Meet Open-top One-off Porsche Cayenne : Why Porsche Never Built Cayenne Convertible

It’s been 20 years since Porsche AG ventured into the lucrative sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment with the Cayenne.

Porsche considered a coupé, convertible and stretched version of the original model shortly after launch in 2002.

Production convertible Cayenne was never built, but Porsche built a one-off prototype that is in a storage at the Porsche Museum.

While convertible and stretched version failed to enter production, the coupé idea was implemented in 2019.

Porsche AG on Thursday revealed a Cayenne convertible was under consideration shortly after the launch of the first-generation model in December 2002.

Shortly after the launch of the original model two decades ago, Porsche considered three additional variants : a coupé, a version stretched by 20 centimetres and with an additional row of seats, and a convertible.

Surprisingly, Porsche actually built a single Cayenne-based convertible that is not a roadgoing prototype, and the one-off model currently sits in a storage at the Porsche Museum.

Porsche notes that test drives were never planned as the one-off open-top Cayenne, known as a Package Function Model – or PFM for short, was only built to assess four criteria.

“Is the seating comfortable throughout the vehicle when the roof tapers in a more coupé-like way towards the rear and when the windscreen and A-pillars are shortened? How practical is the Cayenne as a two-door model with doors which are 20 cm longer?”

• See Also : To Develop Cayenne, Porsche Purchased X5, Explorer, Cherokee And M-Class For Its Engineers

While the convertible and stretched version failed to enter production, the coupé idea was taken up 17 years after and implemented in 2019 in a successful production model.

According to Porsche, forecasts regarding the profitability of the open-top Cayenne were not promising and there are doubts as to whether it would look attractive enough to wear the Porsche badge.

“An SUV as a convertible is a challenge both aesthetically and formally,” says Michael Mauer, who was not yet in office in 2002, looking at the concept today.

“An SUV always has a large and heavy body. You combine this with a small top half and then cut off the roof – you get very strange shapes emerging from that.”

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