Bloody Hell - The Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid Develops 728bhp

‘728bhp Cayenne’ sounds like something plucked from a tuning company’s website, but don’t be fooled - Porsche itself really has made a version of its big-selling SUV that makes that much power. The car in question is the Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid, which becomes the new range-topper for the recently updated high-rider.

Confusingly, it lacks the ‘Turbo S’ designation of its predecessor despite packing 60bhp more. So who knows - maybe we’ll see something even more powerful further down the line.

As it is, this twin-turbo V8-powered monster is Porsche’s most potent combustion-powered vehicle, although as implied by the name, it isn’t powered by suck, squeeze bang and blow alone. The V8 brings nearly 600bhp to the party, with supplementation from an electric motor giving a total of 728bhp and 700lb ft torque.

Mash your foot on the throttle, and the Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid will dispatch 0-62mph in 3.7 seconds - a tenth quicker than the old Turbo S E-Hybrid - on to a top speed of 183mph. Expecting it to be a bit brisker than that off the line, considering that colossal power output? It’s probably a good time to point out that this thing will weigh in somewhere north of 2.6 tonnes.

It weighs that much because the electric motor is fed by a 25.9kWh battery pack, making for an electric-only range of up to 50 miles. Once out of juice, it’ll also charge a lot quicker than previously thanks to the new 11kW onboard charger, which trims the figure down to two and a half hours.

To keep all that weight in check, Porsche has thrown the dynamic kitchen sink at the Turbo E-Hybrid. It gets twin-chamber air suspension, adaptive dampers and a torque vectoring rear differential as standard, which can be optionally complemented by carbon ceramic brakes an active anti-roll bar and rear-wheel steering.

All-wheel steering is bundled with the GT Package, which also drops the ride by 10mm while adding wider tyres and a bespoke front suspension setup with increased negative camber. This goes some way toward making up for the magnificent Cayenne Turbo GT no longer being sold in Europe due to emissions regulations, although it ain’t cheap.

Speaking of, the Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid is available to order now for £130,200 in SUV form, or £132,600 as a Coupe. The GT Package bumps the price to a whopping £154,000.