X

Porsche invokes artificial scarcity to suck away more of your money

The Cayenne Platinum Edition is only available for a limited time, and it includes nothing that you can't get in other trim levels, except for side sills. Well done, Stuttgart.

Andrew Krok Reviews Editor / Cars
Cars are Andrew's jam, as is strawberry. After spending years as a regular ol' car fanatic, he started working his way through the echelons of the automotive industry, starting out as social-media director of a small European-focused garage outside of Chicago. From there, he moved to the editorial side, penning several written features in Total 911 Magazine before becoming a full-time auto writer, first for a local Chicago outlet and then for CNET Cars.
Andrew Krok
2 min read

One trip to Porsche's online car configurator is all you need to realize that Porsche positively assaults its buyers with options. You can grab some packages that lump several similar options together, or you can piecemeal your way to a car that costs twice as much as it originally did. Yet, despite that, Porsche still finds a way to release new trims that more or less repackage the same stuff in a different way.

Case in point, the Porsche Cayenne Platinum Edition. It'll be an available upgrade on just two trim levels of Cayenne -- the base Cayenne, and the Cayenne S E-Hybrid. Even better, it's only available "for a limited time," much like the products you see on 3 a.m. infomercials. Like so many other Porsche options, it's meant to make the car look sportier, and it repackages a number of options together, although there is one unique bit.

To be fair, you do get a whole lot of stuff. Exterior baubles include 20-inch wheels, wider wheel arches, gloss black trim, parking sensors, and adaptive bi-xenon headlights. Inside, you pick up eight-way power leather sport seats with Porsche crests on the headrests and illuminated "Platinum Edition" doorsills (that's the one exclusive bit). You also get Porsche's latest touchscreen infotainment system with navigation, a Bose surround-sound system, Wi-Fi hotspot capability and Apple CarPlay.

Whereas a base Cayenne normally starts around $58,300, a Cayenne Platinum will set you back $65,600, or about seven large on top. For the $77,200-or-so hybrid model, opting for Platinum will only bump the price up to $81,600, likely due to the extra kit that comes with the hybrid model. Could you add most of that for a lower price? It's possible, but then you wouldn't get those neat doorsills.

Porsche Cayenne Platinum

Apple CarPlay is a nice touch, but you can snag up the required Connect Plus option without spending thousands upon thousands of dollars.

Porsche