Porsche Cayenne
Porsche was the first sports car manufacturer to acknowledge the SUV-shaped elephant in the room. It realised that by releasing a Porsche SUV, the resulting profits could be used to further development for its iconic sports car line.
The negative publicity that surrounded the Cayenne’s launch was enormous, but was quickly drowned out by a tidal wave of sales. In only a few years, Porsche had sold more Cayennes than every 911 model ever built since 1963.
That has left Porsche with two distinct lines of products – its SUVs pay the bills while its class-leading sports cars keep the brand’s image alive. Neither could exist as well as it does without the other, and it’s a sort of partnership that many brands have tried to emulate ever since.
Original article by Ted Welford, additional reporting by Stuart Masson.
