Porsche's got a hot new Cayenne variant in the works, and it's already setting records. The German automaker recently took a prototype of this new model to the Nurburgring Nordschleife, where it laid down a 7-minute, 38.925-second lap time. That makes this Cayenne the quickest SUV to lap the infamous track.
"The time was certified by a notary public and now stands as a new record in the 'SUV, off-road vehicle, van, pickup' category," Porsche said in a statement Wednesday. "The notary public also confirmed the series production status of the still lightly camouflaged SUV."
The record lap was completed by Porsche test drive Lars Kern on June 14. A roll cage and racing seat were added to the Cayenne to protect Kern during his 'Ring run, but otherwise, the SUV was production-spec. The prototype wore 22-inch Pirelli P-Zero Corsa summer tires, which Porsche said were "specially developed for the new Cayenne model and will be fitted as standard." For reference, Corsa tires are currently available for some of the Cayenne's 21-inch wheel options, but all the 22s have standard summer tires, not high-performance ones.
Porsche has yet to confirm the official name or final specifications of this new Cayenne model, only saying it will have more than 600 horsepower and that it "rivals the 0-to-60 time of the 992 GT3 PDK," according to a company spokesperson. That means we're looking at an acceleration time of around 3.2 seconds, making this SUV quicker than the current range-topping Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid, which has 670 hp and a 0-to-60-mph time of 3.6 seconds.
Expect to see the production version of this superquick SUV in the coming weeks.
