IAB Report - Porsche India to launch Cayenne facelift next year; 911 GT3 this year
Porsche India will launch the 2015 Cayenne facelift next calendar year, Indian Autos Blog was told by company officials recently. The refreshed Cayenne was announced a couple of weeks ago, and is scheduled to go on sale in Europe later this year.
Cosmetic revisions for the SUV come in the form of revised headlights, taillights, a new grille with active air shutters and more aggressive looking bumpers. Inside, the Cayenne gets a new 3-spoke steering wheel inspired by the 918 Spyder.
Porsche have also made minor mechanical changes to the Cayenne. The base diesel variant powered by a 3.0-liter engine makes an additional 16 PS and 16 Nm of torque at 258 PS (254.3 bhp) and 579 Nm, and hence is quicker by 0.3 seconds from 0-100 km/h, and faster by 1.6 km/h at a top-speed of 219.2 km/h. Further up the chain, the 4.2-liter V8 diesel is quicker from 0-100 km/h by 0.4 seconds thanks to an additional 3 PS power output.
In the petrol lineup, the most significant change comes to the Cayenne S, which has its thirsty naturally-aspirated 4.8-liter V8 petrol engine replaced with the Macan's 3.6-liter V6 twin-turbo. Despite the downsizing, the Cayenne S is now more powerful, and hence quicker, faster and claims to be more fuel efficient than its predecessor.
For this calendar year, Porsche will launch the 911 GT3, and the company has already received 3 bookings for the sportscar. The GT3's launch will be followed by the 911 Targa, Cayman GTS and Boxster GTS within six months.
Competitors: Audi Q7, Mercedes GL, Range Rover Sport, BMW X5
Expected Price: INR 1 crore upwards, ex-Showroom
Launching In: First half of 2015