Heavy Hitter

Stuttgart's flagship SUV is now more luxurious and plusher, but it still kicks physics in the teeth as hard as ever!

- SHIVANK BHATT

The 911 may very well be the poster child of Porsche, but it’s the Cayenne that’s the company’s cash cow and the true breadwinner of the family. Want proof? More than 30% of all the Porsches sold today are the high-riding Cayennes and not 911s as you would like to imagine. As a matter of fact, Porsche has shipped and sold more than one million Cayennes across the globe in just two decades of the SUV’s existence – a feat that took nearly six decades for the mighty 911 to accomplish.

For 2023, Porsche has refreshed the Cayenne so that it can, um, sell in even larger numbers and be an even bigger success. However, this isn’t an all-new Cayenne – that will only happen in 2026 with a fully electric version. So, for the time being, Porsche has given the Cayenne a mid-life shot in the arm. That said, Porsche says that it is one of the biggest and most extensive product upgrades in the history of the brand. Well, is it? We put the new Cayenne through its paces in the beautiful settings of Meghalaya to get you the answer.

WHAT’S NEW? 

Well, not much has changed on the outside. Apart from a new front end with Taycan-like LED headlamps, larger air intakes, bigger 20-inch rims (standard) – earlier, they were 19 inches – and a redesigned rear section with seamless LED taillamps, it is very much the same Cayenne as the model it replaces. It does look quite handsome though.