Porsche Cayenne: How the SUV that was almost a Mercedes-Benz was conceived and saved the company

“Two-door cars set certain limits on the market.” This was the warning from one of the executives of porsche in the mid-90s to avoid a new crisis like the one he suffered at the beginning of that decade and which almost led him to bankruptcy.

It was the embryo of the Cayenne, the SUV born at the beginning of this millennium and which not only saved the sports brand from possible future debacles, but also paved the way to triple its sales and transform it into one of the most profitable car manufacturers. of the world

The idea of ​​a vehicle that was not a traditional sports car of the Stuttgart brand has existed for a long time. Ferry Porsche, son of Ferdinand, founder of the brand, predicted it in 1989: “If we produce an off-road model according to our quality standards and the Porsche shield on the nose, people will buy it“.

Time has come to agree with him. The Cayenne is one of the pillars of growth experienced by the brand over the past two decades and has been the gateway to other models, such as the Macan, a smaller SUV, and the Panamera, a luxury sedan for 4 or 5 passengers. , depending on the configuration.

But the road wasn’t easy. Not only for the criticism that the brand has received for having gone out of its historical path as an exclusive sports car manufacturer, but also because it had to develop and build a type of vehicle that it was not aware of.

A Mercedes-Benz minivan or SUV?

Something was clear. It was necessary to have another type of vehicle besides traditional sports cars. The 911 was and will be the emblem of the company and the Boxster was widely accepted by the public when it appeared in the 1990s, but to ensure a future “third Porsche”.

That model should have family car quality. The brand said many sales were lost due to the lack of versatility provided by the 911 and the Boxster. It was necessary to provide more space and capacity for more passengers.

The first decision Porsche had to make was the type of vehicle to build. Five alternative vehicle concepts for “the third Porsche” were initially considered, but in the end only two were seriously considered: a luxury minivan and a premium SUV with a sporty character.

The first idea was vetoed by the United States, Porsche’s largest market at the time. From there they considered large SUVs a safe bet for a wider clientele. So it was that it was declined from the idea of ​​an SUV.

The German brand has a long history in four-wheel drive models; also he conquered the Paris-Dakar in the 1980s. But competition is one thing and creating a model for every day is quite another.

It was then that Porsche began looking for a partner to develop a completely new car belonging to this segment. At first he found one very close. Mercedes-Benz would have launched the M-Class in 1997 and was not opposed to Porsche joining the project.

“At that point, we envisioned the Porsche SUV as a high-performance variant of Mercedes,” acknowledged Klaus-Gerhard Wolpert, head of the Cayenne range from 1998 to 2010, “with technology inherited from the M-Class, but with an exterior design , proprietary engines and chassis components.

The partnership between Porsche and Mercedes, which began in mid-1996, was progressing well, but failed at the end of the year due to disagreements over the two companies’ economic relations.

Everything stays in the family

Porsche therefore needed a new partner and found one in Wolfsburg. Although Volkswagen and the sports carmaker are not yet in the same group as today, then Volkswagen’s board chairman Ferdinand Piëch, grandson of Porsche’s founder, recognized the potential of the partnership.

The sports car brand presented the project to Volkswagen and Ferdinand Piëch decided that a vehicle like this could also fit the brand he was driving.

So it was that, in June 1997, they made the decision to do so join forces to design the Cayenne and the Tuareg on the Porsche platform, as part of the project internally called “Colorado”.

A little less than a year later the project was announced to the press, but the name Cayenne was still a secret. Porsche was responsible for the development, while Volkswagen would take responsibility for the production of the new SUV.

There were identical parts on both models, like the doors, for example, and the interiors were very similar. However, the partners went their separate ways with regard to other important components. First, no Porsche engine was used in the Volkswagen sibling model and vice versa. Tuning of the chassis was also done separately.

The most important decision was what kind of vehicle to build. Indeed, at the time, the term SUV was not as widespread and the definition for a vehicle like the first Cayenne was 4×4. And Porsche could not lack performance despite not having so much experience on the asphalt.

From the company they were very clear that if they made an off-road vehicle, it had to be absolutely convincing where the pavement ends. That’s why the first generation of the Cayenne It also came with a change.to make the most of the engine power.

The only thing that kept him from going off-road was the tires, as they had to be reliable enough to respond to the brand’s sporting tradition. And boy did it do it: the top speed of the Turbo version was 266 km / h.

To understand the concept of development within the company, Wolpert asked the heads of his division to deliver the Porsche vehicles assigned by the company. In return, they would drive several SUVs purchased for this project on a daily basis: BMW X5, Ford Explorer, Jeep Grand Cherokee and Mercedes-Benz M-Class.

In September 2002, four years after the decision to build the Cayenne was published, the first five-seater Porsche in history celebrated its world premiere at the Paris Motor Show.

“Porsche faces what could be its biggest challenge,” said company president Wendelin Wiedeking at the pre-fair event in the courtyard of the Hotel d’Evreux.

“This day, I have no doubts, will have historical significance for the company.” And she was right. With the Cayenne, the sports car manufacturer reached new customers and marketsalthough there has been a strong reluctance among many fans of the brand.

The Cayenne was quickly accepted into the company, but Porsche club members, which abound in several countries, were less enthusiastic. There has been strong criticism. For many, something broke in the company’s history that day.

From a commercial point of view, however, the numbers proved that Porsche was right. Not only that, but they exceeded expectations, like they did not live up to initial expectations.

The Porsche Cayenne was not being delivered to 25,000 customers a year, as expected. The German company sold 276,652 copies of the first generation during its eight-year life, which equates to nearly 35,000 vehicles per year.

With the third generation on the market and one million units largely surpassed, the Cayenne recorded over 80,000 deliveries in 2021.

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Gabriele Silveira

Source: Clarin

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