Porsche's GT division planning a Cayenne Coupe with Lamborghini Urus engine

5 years, 6 months ago - 15 May 2019, autoblog
Porsche's GT division planning a Cayenne Coupe with Lamborghini Urus engine
Porsche might have found a use for the GT5 name it trademarked in 2015

Motor Trend globetrotter Jonny Lieberman heard from "a guy/unnamed source" about plans at Porsche's GT division. Seems the department responsible for turning the 911 into professional race cars and cracking street-legal coupes labeled "GT + alpha/numeric" plans to spend some time casting their lighter-harder-faster spells on the new Cayenne Coupe. That, apparently, would involve dropping the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 found in the Lamborghini Urus — which Porsche's GT arm developed — into the faster-backed SUV.

The entirely unfounded guess as the what such an SUV could be called? GT5. That is the logical leap after GT3, leaving room for the imminent Cayman GT4. Porsche trademarked GT5 with the European Union Intellectual Property Office in 2015.

The smoke signals predict a standard Cayenne Coupe range with three engines. That starts with a 3.0-liter V6 with 335 horsepower and 332 pound-feet of torque. Next up comes the Turbo, with the 4.0-liter twin-turbo V8 making 541 hp and 567 lb-ft. That same engine produces 641 hp and 627 lb-ft in the Urus. A plug-in hybrid is on the way next year using the powertrain from the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid. We don't have numbers yet, but the four-door sedan develops a combined 677 hp and 626 lb-ft. A plug-in hybrid Urus is on the way as well.

We don't expect a GT-ified version of the Cayenne Coupe's to joust with the Urus over power figures; the GT department focuses on motorsports applications. That means we'd be looking for an SUV that went on a diet, whetted all of its edges, and added a raft of equipment that proved its loyalty to the racing line.

Lieberman says there's a Cayenne Coupe in Flacht, Germany — home of the GT division — right now. The same way the original Cayenne reprogrammed our expectations of a performance SUV, we would expect a Cayenne Coupe GT5 to redraw the boundary of extreme handling in relation to its hulking German rivals. And it could do just that — on the track, at least — until we see what comes of the track-only Urus ST-X concept. As Mr. Motor Trend also wrote, "What a world!"

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