The Porsche Cayenne convertible that never came

After the introduction of the Cayenne in the autumn of 2002, Porsche considered building several variants of the SUV. In the end, three ideas were put on the table: a coupé, a long-wheelbase, seven-seat variant, and a convertible. The first two quickly swept the high gentlemen off the table, but Porsche actually built a prototype of the latter. The Cayenne convertible is identical to the regular Cayenne at the front, but no body panel is the same from the A-pillar.

Porsche Cayenne convertible

For starters, the A-pillars and windshield are shorter and more curved at the top. The front doors were added 20 centimeters and the two rear doors disappeared, making the Cayenne a three-door. With a length of 4.8 meters, the Cayenne convertible is as long as a normal Cayenne, but the wheelbase appears to be slightly shorter due to the larger rear overhang. However, Porsche keeps the length of the wheelbase to itself. The silhouette of the Cayenne further changed completely. From the windscreen, the roof slopes gently towards the rear, giving the Cayenne convertible a ‘Kamm-tail’. In fact, the convertible is a Targa, because the roof cannot open completely. The huge soft top of the Cayenne convertible should disappear electronically under the rear window when opened, just like the current 911 Targa.

Would, because the engineers at Porsche never developed the idea further from a technical point of view than a computer simulation. On the prototype, the roof must be manually stowed in the luggage compartment. Also the necessary reinforcements for the chassis and body were not present on the convertible, making the prototype unsafe to drive. Meanwhile, the designers could not agree on the design of the rear. Therefore, the prototype has a different design for the rear on the left and right side. On the left, the taillights and number plate holder are lower and the rear window is shorter, while the right side, with its longer rear window and higher positioned taillights and number plate holder, is more reminiscent of the design of the first Panamera.

Which one do you prefer?

The prototype was built to answer four questions: does the lower windshield and sloping roofline allow you to sit comfortably throughout the car? How practical is the Cayenne with the 20 centimeters longer doors? Is it possible to have the soft top fold away quickly? How should the rear be designed? Those last two questions were in any case not answered and in the end Porsche did not go further with the idea of ​​​​the Cayenne convertible. The potential profitability of the model was not very promising – an important factor as the Cayenne was supposed to bring money to Porsche – and there were doubts whether the Cayenne convertible would look as attractive as a Porsche should be. “An SUV always has a large body. If you combine that with a low top half and then take the roof off, you get very strange shapes,” commented Michael Mauer, current design chief at Porsche. He was not yet at his post in 2002, but his comment shows that he thought it was the right choice not to take the Cayenne convertible into production.

The SUV convertible in real life

Porsche didn’t think it was a good idea to make an open version of an SUV, but other brands did. The 2010 Nissan Murano CrossCabriolet is one of the most bizarre examples and is somewhat similar in design to the Cayenne convertible, in the sense that the Murano is also a large SUV that has two doors less and a more slanted windscreen. However, the Murano is a fully-fledged convertible and the rear window also disappears in the trunk when opened. The Murano CrossCabriolet was not a success and remains a rarity, but many more copies of the Volkswagen T-Roc Cabrio and Range Rover Evoque Cabriolet have been built. Whether the Cayenne convertible would have been a success, we will never know. The prototype is in the museum vault and Porsche has no plans to cut the roof of the Cayenne in the near future. A loss or a blessing? Give your opinion in the comments!