Porsche is to debut another high performance variant of its Cayenne SUV at the important Auto China Show in Beijing on April 23. The Cayenne GTS will use a 309 kW V8 engine (15 kw more than the Cayenne S and 59 kW less than the Cayenne Turbo) but with a tauter chassis, lower ride height and more general sportiness than the S.
While the Cayenne GTS sits between the Cayenne S and the Cayenne Turbo in the range, it will be the highest performance non-turbo in the Cayenne range, and Porsche claims its "own special character enables it to be differentiated clearly from its siblings."
The 309 kW (420 hp) V8 engine of the GTS is essentially the 4.8-litre V8 of the Cayenne S in a slightly higher state of tune.
The GTS will use Porsche's eight-speed Tiptronic S transmission and will feature an integrated auto start/stop function. The engine and transmission "have been specially calibrated to provide instant bursts of speed" according to Porsche.
By comparison with its closest neighbors in the Porsche range, the Cayenne GTS sprints from zero to 100 km/h in 5.7 seconds, just 0.2 seconds faster than the Cayenne S (5.9 seconds), but a full second slower than the Cayenne Turbo's 4.7 seconds.
The GTS' 0-160 km/h time is 13.3 seconds, marginally better than the Cayenne S which hits 160 km/h in 13.9 seconds, but a lot slower than the 500 bhp Cayenne Turbo's 10.5 seconds.
The Cayenne GTS top speed is just 3 km/h faster than the S at 261 km/h, though well shy of the Turbo's 278 km/h, and you can probably guess the fuel consumption figures if you start with the Cayenne S at 10.5 l/100 km (GTS 10.7 and the Turbo's 11.5 l/100kmCayenne S.
The suspension on the GTS can be expected to be a lot firmer, with Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) as standard and the body has been lowered by 24 mm from the Cayenne S. The same lightweight body with its intelligent mix of materials is used in the GTS.
The Cayenne GTS pricing has been announced for several countries already, with the United States getting deliveries in August at a base MSRP of US$82,050, (not including delivery charges), the United Kingdom getting the car a month earlier at GBP67,147, while Australians will need to wait until August to pay AUD $164,900.