German Car Scene

PORSCHE CAYENNE HYBRID

Posted 12th November, 2007 in Porsche | 1 Comment

Porsche AG, Stuttgart, is presenting drive concepts particularly friendly to the environment at the Los Angeles Auto Show starting on November 16, 2007: The highlight of this leading event at the Los Angeles Convention Center is of course the first appearance of the innovative Cayenne Hybrid in America.

At the same time Porsche is also presenting a milestone in automobile development to the well-informed public attending the most significant trend show in North America with their great knowledge of history and technical development over the years: The electric-drive Lohner-Porsche from the year 1900, one of the world’s first zero emission vehicles and, accordingly, a forerunner for hybrid drive.

With its future-oriented electric motors in the wheel hubs, the Lohner-Porsche was acknowledged as the absolute sensation at the Paris World Fair in 1900. On loan from the Technical Museum in Vienna, Austria, this outstanding achievement in technology protected today as a universal monument is now to be seen the first time outside of Europe at an auto show.

It was this vehicle, Ferdinand Porsche’s first major project completed at the time without layshafts and without a transmission that gave the 24-year-old automobile genius his breakthrough as a pioneer in the history of the automobile. Shortly thereafter Ferdinand Porsche added a combustion engine providing power for the electric generator to the electric drive system with two internal-pole motors in the front wheels. This made Porsche’s hybrid drive ready for production and created a unique highlight at the Paris Auto Show in 1901.

More than 100 years later the engineers at Porsche’s Weissach Research & Development Center took up precisely this concept, creating the future-oriented high-tech Cayenne Hybrid, a unique vehicle combining superior efficiency with equally superior driving dynamics. The Full-Parallel-Hybrid System developed by Porsche combines the best of two worlds so efficiently that the series-production will consume less than 9 liters/100 km. An equally important point was to maintain Porsche’s typically ambitious standards in terms of vehicle weight and driving dynamics also in the hybrid model. And perhaps the best news is that Porsche will be introducing this very economical SUV before the end of this decade.

The Los Angeles Auto Show has become the most significant show for Porsche in the USA, reaching Porsche customers in one of the brand’s main regions with maximum impact and with a great effect on the company’s image. The particular lifestyle of California is clearly borne out by the new Porsche GT2 likewise making its North American debut in Los Angeles and offering high technology of tomorrow in today’s market: This 530-hp super-sportscar is powered by a biturbo engine featuring a new expansion intake manifold to reduce fuel consumption under full load. The fastest production-911 of all times will be available as of February 2008 in the USA at a retail price of US$ 191,700.

[Source: Porsche]