Toyota's unveiling of its plug-in hybrid vehicle is not surprising. General Motors' decision to develop the Chevy Volt does not surprise also considering the fact that they are being hammered by Toyota in terms of coming up with eco-friendly vehicles. What is interesting though is that Cadillac will be coming up with a hybrid Escalade. More interesting than that is a hybrid Porsche Cayenne which the German automaker said is currently being developed.
The automaker has always been known for their fast gas-guzzling cars but with the current pressure on the auto industry to reduce the emission of their vehicles, the automaker was forced into making a hybrid Porsche. The company chose the SUV Cayenne to become the first hybrid Porsche vehicle.
According to the International Herald Tribune, the automaker announced that the Cayenne Hybrid is expected to hit Porsche showrooms before the turn of the decade. The company recently opened their doors to journalist to let the auto industry have a peek at what they are doing in their quest to build a hybrid Cayenne.
Although the Cayenne has been criticized by many Porsche car owners since it does not fit well with the company's image, Porsche did not discontinue the SUV line. Furthermore, the automaker pushes the envelope further by planning to build a hybrid Cayenne. According to the automaker, they are expecting the Cayenne Hybrid to consume 23 percent less fuel compared to non-hybrid Cayennes.
The 23 percent disparity in fuel consumption means that it will be consuming more or less 8.9 liters of fuel for every 100 kilometers traveled. Converted to mpg, the Cayenne Hybrid is expected to return 26 miles or a gallon of fuel. The conventional gas-only Cayenne only gets 14 miles for a gallon on city driving and 20 miles during highway driving.
As for its impact to the environment, the Porsche Cayenne Hybrid is expected to produce 20 percent less environment damaging emissions compared to the conventional Cayenne. Although emission is reduced compared to the conventional SUV, the high powered Cayenne Hybrid would still be emitting significantly high levels of greenhouse gases. Compared to the Prius or the Altima Hybrid, the amount of greenhouse gases emitted by a Cayenne Hybrid would still be very huge.
But while this may not be enough to please environmentalists, Porsche is showing that it is doing something about the threat of global warming. Recently, Greenpeace members picketed in front of the automaker's headquarters in Stuttgart.
In defense, the automaker pointed out that the small number of Porsche vehicles on the roads of the global community today adds little to the increasing amount of greenhouse gases expelled to the atmosphere. "To refer to Porsche as a 'climate pig,' given these facts, is not only inappropriate but also malicious and a clear sign of bad intent," said the company.
The hybrid powertrain of the Cayenne is developed with performance still in mind. Unlike Toyota which puts fuel efficiency before performance in the development of hybrid vehicles, the German automaker still considers performance even though it is developing a hybrid vehicle.
The hybrid powertrain is developed by Porsche with inputs from another German automaker Audi. Volkswagen, known for producing reliable auto parts such as , is also involved in the development of the hybrid powertrain. With that in mind, it would not come as a surprise if Audi comes out with its own hybrid vehicle. In fact, it can even combine the hybrid powertrain with a clean diesel engine.
