Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid: The plug-in Cayenne debuts in Paris

The recently facelifted Porsche Cayenne gets its debut at the Paris Motor Show next week, including the first look at the new plug-in Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid.

The Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid arrives in Paris

There will come a point when governments realise that car makers are getting too clever at gaming CO2 levels with impressive and sophisticated hybrids. But until then, there’s a growing number of cars that, on the face of it, offer a ‘cake and eat it’ option for buyers. Like the new Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid.

The Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid is the Cayenne take on the Panamera plug-in hybrid, offering the ability to charge the batteries through a wall socket and, in the process, making the E-Hybrid a bit more useful in the real world and a bit more appealing.

The headline, of course, is that the Cayenne S E-Hybrid has at its disposal a total of 410bhp and can offer official economy of 83.1mpg and emissions of just 79g/km.

Not only that, but its 0-62mph of 5.9 seconds isn’t far off that of the original Cayenne Turbo yet its BIK – the cost of having the Cayenne as a company car – is a very modest 11 per cent this year (13 per cent 2015-16) compared to the regular Cayenne S that attracts a BIK rate of 35 per cent, making the Cayenne plug-in hybrid a bit of a no-brainer as a company car.

Of course, there is a price to pay for the tax benefits, although in cost terms the plug-in hybrid is the same price as the V8 diesel Cayenne and only slightly more than the new Cayenne S.

Only in exceptional circumstances will you come even close to the official economy figures, and only when you have a fully charged battery will you be able to exploit the performance potential of the Cayenne hybrid.

The rest of the time, when the relatively short range of around 13 miles is depleted, you’ll effectively be driving a 3.0 litre V6 Cayenne with its performance a bit blunted by the hybrid gubbins’ added weight penalty.

But for many that will be a small price to pay to save as much as £6,000 on their tax bill.

And if you’re one of those, you’ll get your first chance to take a proper look at the new Porsche Cayenne S E-Hybrid at the Paris Motor Show next week as it arrives to sit alongside the facelifted 2015 Cayenne range before arriving in the UK in 2015.

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