Indian Autos blog

The Porsche Macan has captured our fancy since the day it was announced.

Even though Porsche has not officially announced the markets that the Macan will be sold in, our gumption says that the Baby Cayenne is Porsche’s trump card in the race to be India’s most popular luxury SUV. Hence, we have been tracking the Macan since the day it was announced.

AutoBild reports that Porsche is planning a mass market attack on the current reigning champions of the midsize luxury executive sedan segment. The Stuttgart giant is planning a new four-door model that will slot beneath the current Panamera.

Competing against the Mercedes-Benz E-Class, Jaguar XF and the BMW 5 Series, the new sedan will be out on the market in 2017.

In recent years, Porsche is the only manufacturer which has taken many risks to diversify the brand in different segments of the luxury market. Although Porsche is still known for its epic 911, there are so many Porsches now that have a distinct identity in the market.

With immediate effect, Volkswagen Group Sales India Private Limited (Pvt. Ltd.) has been appointed as the new official importer of Porsche in India.

Distribution-related matters will be handled by Volkswagen India including expanding dealer network. Precision Cars was the official importer of Porsche models in India before this new importer agreement was signed.

Porsche, as a brand, is known to take a lot of risk when it comes to diversifying its product portfolio. Most of the risks such as the Cayenne and Panamera have paid off brilliantly. So the Stuttgart based manufacturer is all set to take on another challenge.

Porsche’s upcoming baby SUV is expected to be the brand’s first venture in the smaller crossover segment. Autobild.de presents us with the rendering of the upcoming baby Porsche and Autocar.co.uk provides us with juicy details.

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When Porsche claimed that they have build an SUV that drives like a sportscar, the world automotive press had a nice giggle. When Porsche presented the Cayenne back in 2002 to the world automotive press, we laughed even harder.

But when the media drove the Cayenne, boy did they had their foot in their mouth.

Porsche continues to amaze the world as they have finally rolled off 100,000 second generation Cayennes!

IndianAutosBlog.com is fresh off the BMW X3 press conference in Pune, where BMW launched its brand new compact luxury SUV at a whopping price of 41.2 lakhs. The BMW X3 already has enough contenders such Audi’s Q5, Landrover Freelander 2, Volvo XC60.

But a new challenger is taking birth on the hills of Nürburgring – It’s the Porsche Cajun. This baby Cayenne will mark the Porsche brand’s first entry in the compact luxury SUV segment.

According to the images reported by Autoblog.com, Porsche has already started testing the Cajun platform on the Ring. Right now, it is using the Audi Q5 body as a test mule. More proof comes in the form of number plates which are marked LB (Ludwigsburg). If it was actually an Audi, it would have been IN (Ingoldstadt).

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Fiat is working on reviving the Panda and in the next few months it’ll be out on some international markets. There’s huge demand for the Panda in Europe and Fiat manufactured the 1,500,000th Panda back in July 2009. It has been in production since 1980 and we can’t wait for it here in India with the 900cc TwinAir petrol and 1.3-liter Multijet engine.

[Head over to steeringnews.com to read about the new Panda]

Porsche meanwhile is downsizing some of its cars starting with the Cayenne. The Cayenne Junior or Cajun will touch down in mid 2013. Based on the Audi Q5, the Cajun is a perfect car for Porsche to run down the likes of the BMW X3 and Volvo XC60. But will the Cajun be an overpriced product due to the anti-import duty structure?

[Head over to steeringnews.com to read about the Porsche Cajun]

Dacia is working on a Mahindra Xylo in Romania. Codenamed J92, the Dacia Monospace MPV could bear the Popster nameplate when it comes out next year. Like other Dacias (Logan, Sandero and Duster) its should be great value and can help Renault occupy the MPV space in India that will see so many new players over the next 12-18 months.

[Head over to steeringnews.com to read about the Dacia J92]

VW-controlled performance car manufacturer Porsche has launched the Cayman S Black limited edition on the Indian market. The soft launch took place on Saturday. The Cayman S Black limited edition is priced at Rs 75.45 lakh rupees(ex-showroom Delhi). The company plans to manufacture 500 examples, so this is an exclusive car by every stretch of imagination. The Black is an upgraded version of the Cayman with new features.

The front seats are trimmed in black partial leather and it has a sports steering wheel. Climate control and cruise control are handy features on long journeys. The Porsche Communication Management (PCM), Porsche’ way of saying “satellite navigation” is available and the black audio interface plays MP3 files. The system is also Bluetooth compatible.

The black color scheme of the Cayman S Black Edition is consistent throughout. This is stretching the limited edition status a bit too far as everything from the dashboard, gear lever, seats to the alloys are painted in black.

Sitting behind the passenger cell is a 6-cylinder, 3.4-liter boxer engine capable of generating 330hp at 7400 rpm and a peak torque of 370 Nm at 4750 rpm. This rockets the Cayman to 100kph from a standstill in just 5.1 seconds. Equipped with PDK (Porsche Doppelkupplungsgetriebe) dual-clutch gearbox, the car accelerates till 279km/h.

One will argue that there are not many roads in India to explore all of the Cayman model’ capabilities but customers will counter argue that they are tired of waiting for the government to give them the facilities. Moreover the Cayman driver is more concerned about making a statement than a 279kmph speed dash.