Porsche Cayenne facelift with triple-screen dash to debut later this year

The facelifted Porsche Cayenne is now in its final stages of testing, with it undergoing multiple rounds of endurance tests and technological trials across four continents. The third-generation Cayenne was launched in India in 2018 and will receive a facelift later this year.

1. Cayenne facelift will get new HD Matrix LED headlights
2. Will have an interior similar to the Taycan
3. PHEV to sport bigger batteries
4. India launch expected before end of 2023

Ahead of its unveiling, Porsche has extensively tested the upcoming Cayenne facelift. It covered  over 2,00,000km under various conditions – urban traffic, country roads and highways. Porsche also tested the Cayenne in extreme conditions, including deserts in Africa, ice tracks in the Arctic as well as the Nurburgring Nordschleife in Germany.

Porsche Cayenne facelift: design update

Porsche will continue offering the Cayenne in regular SUV and coupe SUV body styles. Up front, both will get a reworked front bumper that now house big air intakes and two thin LED daytime running lamps below the headlights. Speaking of which, these will now be HD Matrix LED units that Porsche says will be twice as bright as previous LED units.

In profile, and at the rear, the Cayenne facelift will remain largely unchanged. However, the update will see Porsche’s flagship SUV sporting matrix LED tail-lights as well.

Porsche Cayenne facelift: new features

Porsche will give the Cayenne a new interior layout, which is similar to the Taycan EV. It will have a heavily revised dashboard with a 12.7-inch curved digital instrument cluster as well as a 12.3-inch infotainment touchscreen. Additionally, the front passenger will also get a 10.9-inch display. 

Just like in the Taycan, the centre console-mounted gear lever in the Cayenne will be replaced by a toggle switch next to the new steering wheel. Porsche will also update the head-up display unit to display augmented reality graphics. Furthermore, the Cayenne will also get a 15W wireless charging pad, improved air conditioning and ventilation, and restyled door trims. 

Porsche Cayenne facelift: powertrain upgrades

Under the hood, the entry level Cayenne with the 3.0-litre petrol turbocharged V6 engine will now produce an additional 14hp and 50Nm, now rated at 354hp and 500Nm. The Cayenne S, which is not available in India, will now get a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 petrol engine producing 476hp and 600Nm. The range-topping Turbo GT variant will get a more heavily tuned version of the aforementioned V8 engine producing 660hp and 850Nm.

For Cayenne’s plug-in hybrid variants, Porsche will adopt a new gearbox-mounted electric motor that now produces 176hp – 40hp more than before. Porsche will also detune the 3.0-litre petrol V6 engine, in the Cayenne e-Hybrid, from 340hp to 304hp. However, with the new e-motor, the combined power output will increase to 470hp – 8hp more than the current model. But it will churn out 50Nm less, at 650Nm.

Porsche will also increase the battery capacities of the e-hybrid variants as they will now have a 25.9kWh battery, an increase of 11.8kWh. They also support faster charging, with the limit rising from 7.2kW to 11kW, along with revised software. It claims that the PHEVs will now have an EV-only range of 80km. Globally, along with the standard e-Hybrid and S e-Hybrid, there will be a third Cayenne PHEV variant, but its details currently remain under wraps.

Porsche Cayenne facelift: chassis upgrades

The Cayenne facelift will feature a new, semi-active chassis with Porsche’s engineers in Weissach making “major revisions” to the Cayenne’s chassis system. Porsche will offer the Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) system as standard that will feature twin-tube variable rate dampers with steel suspension. Available as an option, the optional air suspension will now feature a dual-chamber set-up, instead of the current triple-chamber layout.  

Porsche will also tweak the rear-wheel steering system that is available on higher variants of the Cayenne, which will have greater turning angles at lower speeds. Furthermore, Porsche will also update the braking system and it will get a new kinetic energy recuperation system. The base and the higher S variants will adopt larger 20-inch wheels as standard globally. However, it remains to be seen whether India-spec models will get these as standard.

Porsche Cayenne facelift: India launch, expected price and rivals

While the Cayenne facelift is set to make its global debut in the first half of 2023, expect it to launch in India before the end of this year. While the Cayenne currently retails between Rs 1.26 crore-2.57 crore (ex-showroom), the updated Cayenne could likely see a big price hike. The Cayenne, which has been the highest selling model for Porsche India in 2022, will rival the likes of the BMW X5, Mercedes-Benz GLE and Range Rover Sport.

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