Porsche Cayenne Diesel to arrive by March 2009

Porsche Cayenne

It is officially reported that the new fuel-sipping Porsche Cayenne Diesel crossover SUV powered by an oil-burning engine will reach showrooms by March 2009.

The car will possibly be powered by a slightly reworked version of the V6 turbo-diesel currently motivating the Audi Q7 zeppelin on wheels.

The engine will reportedly produce about 240hp of power so it well may be the same 3.0-liter 550 Nm (405 lb-ft) TDi motor currently installed into the Audi Q7 crossover SUV

It will be safe to assume that with this kind of motivator the Cayenne will feature zero to 100 km/h acceleration time of about 8 – 8.5 seconds and will consume about 10 liters per 100 km (which is less than 24 mpg) of diesel fuel.

Starting at a price of €55,000, the diesel-powered Cayenne will be manufactured at a rate of 15,000 units per year.

With the oil-burning model, the German company has a good chance to put a smashing blow on foreheads of such competitors as the Mercedes-Benz ML 320, BMW X5 xDrive35d, Range Rover Sport TDV8 and it will surely devastate the anemic Volvo XC90 D5 AWD with the latter’s 11.5 seconds of 0-100km/h acceleration time.

Photos: Porsche, Audi

See also: 2008 Mercedes-Benz GL-Class BlueTEC diesel