We’re certain Porsche is considering all kinds of new vehicles in established and emerging segments. We’re also certain, based on reports from Porsche dealers to Automotive News, that one of those vehicles is a crossover. One dealer told AN that the model, shown during meetings in Atlanta, was “a new style of vehicle that is part sedan, part crossover,” with a “rakish” design. Another dealer said the model was “very un-Porsche-like,” also unlike the Cayenne and Macan, with “a flat rear design.” So it’s nothing like the crossovers Porsche makes now, and might not look like anything Porsche would make, except that it’s a crossover as well as a sedan, both of which Porsche do make, with a flat rear that’s also rakish. This is what police must feel like when they interview enough witnesses to nail down a description of a perp who looks like everyone and is everyone’s height, too.
Automotive News described this as a crossover that would best the Cayenne for size in length and width, that could pack three rows of seating, and make its debut in the latter 2020s with a plug-in hybrid powertrain. If the vehicle really is that simple, it sounds like a fine idea despite the potential howls of protest from Porsche purists. In a down sales year last year, the three-row Audi Q7, BMW X7, and Mercedes-Benz GLS combined to move about 63,000 units in the U.S. The Cayenne found 18,092 new homes last year, dropping only slightly from its best-ever U.S. sales in 2019 with 19,001 units, the midsize CUV looking on track to beat that record this year. A three-row Porsche sedan-crossover-thing that brought in another 15,000 or so U.S. sales would become the third-best-selling model in the Stuttgart carmaker’s lineup.
When asked about the subject, a Porsche Cars North America spokesperson told AN that the company is “continually exploring new opportunities.” The purported vehicle from the dealer meeting would have fallen under the Porsche Unseen banner, “the majority of which do not make it beyond the ideas stage.” Last year, Porsche shared some of those Unseen concepts, like the 911 Safari, roadgoing 919, and 550-inspired roadster.
The crossover AN described sounds like the three-row luxury SUV ostensibly codenamed “Landjet” the VW Group plans to spread between Audi, Porsche, and Bentley. As one of the products arising from Project Artemis, the Audi-led development of a flagship luxury electric vehicle and associated digital technologies that would begin to close the EV ecosystem gap between VW and EV leader Tesla, the Landjet is due to enter production in 2024. A report from last year in German outlet Handelsblatt said the Landjet “should be a real luxury car with probably three rows of seating and correspondingly large.” The timing is a bit iffy in the AN report, though, and the Landjet will be battery-electric. On the other hand, it’s unthinkable that Porsche would put out two three-row crossovers at the same time, so we’ll need to wait for the future to bring its secrets a little closer to the present.
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