Porsche has announced a package of upgrades for its heavy-duty Cayenne SUV at the Shanghai motor show, starting with a revised three-litre V6 turbodiesel for which it claims an extra 3.7kW (up to 180kW) at a cost of only 7.2 litres/100km and 189 grams of CO2 per kilometre - that's six less than the previous version.
The extra grunt has reduced the 0-100 sprint by 0.2sec to 7.6sec and top speed is up from 218 to 220km/h - which may not sound like a big deal but remember, we are talking about a two-ton all-wheel drive off-roader with all the aerodynamic efficiency of a brick outbuilding.
How'd they do it? The crankshaft now has fewer counterweights and hollow bores to make it lighter. Internal friction losses have been reduced, fuel-injection pressure is up to 2000 bar, and the turbocharger has upgraded bearings and a new compressor wheel for quicker spooling (that means less turbo lag - not that the diesel Cayenne had much to start with).
All of which has knocked 20kg off the engine, reducing the unladen weight of the car to 2080kg.
The engine management system of the hybrid Cayenne has had a small but important tweak - you can now get in and drive off on battery power no matter how cold the car is. Previously, the car would only allow itself to be driven in "green" mode once the drive-train had reached normal operating temperature which, on a cold German (or Highveld!) winter's morning, meant burning an appreciable amount of diesel before you could save any!
There's also a "power kit" available for the Cayenne Turbo that gives it an extra 29kW, boosting it to a Brobdignagian 397kW and 750Nm. Rated performance is up to 281km/h and down to 4.6sec (minus 0.1sec) for the 0-100 sprint; fuel consumption and emissions are unchanged at 11.5 litres/100km and 270g/km respectively.
How? Electronic tweaks and new turbos with titanium-aluminium turbine wheels, is how.
All of which takes a lot of stopping, so brake cooling has been improved and the diameter of the optional ceramic composite brake discs increased to 420mm.