New Hybrid Porsche Cayenne Pushes the Envelope

It’s finally happened: the most powerful Porsche Cayenne has a hybrid powertrain. The writing was on the wall with the 918 Spyder, and now this development has finally come true. The 2020 Porsche Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid produces a whopping 663 lb.-ft. of torque, which is plenty to scoot you to Whole Foods to hunt for some vegan frozen yogurt.

To produce that wondrous number, Porsche engineers combined a 4.0-liter V-8 with an eight-speed Tiptronic S transmission that has an electric motor integrated into its structure. You get the benefit of all that torque almost right off the line, so it’s kind of like driving a fully-electric car, only without having to sit at a charging station for at least 20-30 minutes.

That powertrain is enough to send the luxury SUV charging from 0-62 mph in just 3.8 seconds. It also can hit a top speed of 183 mph, which should be sufficiently scary, even on a track. You can put the SUV into electric-only mode and still hit 83 mph, which is good enough for most highway jaunts in the U.S.

This is the kind of electrification enthusiasts can get excited about. Porsche has a good track record of making vehicles that are a blast to drive, even its SUVs, and this is next-level stuff. At least this promises a bright future, if we ever reach the point where internal combustion engines really do go extinct.