The luxury segment has a softball-sized bug up its butt right now. Sport utility vehicles and crossovers have proven to be exceptionally lucrative as consumer interest in sedans tapers off. Weirdly, building variants that are more like cars has also become increasingly popular — especially in the luxury segment.
BMW launched the X6 as the sporting alternative to the X5 way back in 2008. Rival luxury brands quickly took notice. Mercedes-Benz now has the GLE and GLC Coupe while Audi recently showcased the Q8 as a non-car alternative to the Q7.
It’s a strange group. Purchasing one means sacrificing a lot of the practicality of an SUV or crossover to get something with dynamics and styling approaching that of a sedan. It also means you didn’t think to just buy a sedan or station wagon. Are these automobiles bridging a necessary gap in the market or are they a passing fad for those of us with questionable taste in cars and more money than sense?
The answer really doesn’t matter, as they’re currently selling well enough to rationalize their existence — and there’s another contender is about to be added to the mix. Starting in 2019, Porsche will append a “Cayenne Coupé” to its automotive portfolio.
According to a report from Autocar, Porsche boss Oliver Blume has agreed to build the vehicle with the express intent of taking sales away from the X6 and GLE Coupé. The timing is certainly right for it, too. The Audi Q7/Q8 and Porsche’s Cayenne will share a common platform (Volkswagen’s MLB) after next year and Blume thinks it’s perfect for the “coupe” version of the SUV. Porsche’s strategy will also be similar to Audi’s in that the new vehicle will be positioned above the standard Cayenne as a performance variant.
Engine options are expected to be a 440 bhp twin-turbocharged 2.9-liter V6 and a 550 bhp twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8. Visually, it should be similar to the third-gen Cayenne with a lower ride height and unique front bumper. It will also have a liftback-style tailgate, altered rear side windows, and a new taillight design that more closely resembles the Panamera.
[Image: Porsche]
Aaand another pointless “but-but-but this is not a coupe” discussion in three … two … one …
“Words have no power to impress the mind without the exquisite horror of their reality.” -Edgar Allan Poe
DO WORD’S NOT HAVE MEANING?
They do, but it changes. Remember what a phaeton used to be? ;-) Or, to name but one example outside the automotive realm, a telephone?
Well Brougham technically means an open driver’s compartment and a closed compartment for the passengers.
I bet that definition would still be a big hit in China with their love of being driven.
Words actually ceased having meaning a few years ago when it became acceptable to misuse the word “literal”. Now it’s acceptable to say things like “My head literally exploded”. We have, as a society, literally thrown in the towel…wait a second..
Dan,
You ask that question in a world where people think that “issue” and “problem” are synonyms?
Utility coupes are the automotive equivalent of wearing a belt and suspenders.
The AMC Concord was ahead of its time, by decades. Now automakers are tripping over each other to make modern versions of it.
AMC wasn’t the first:
https://www.hemmings.com/magazine/hcc/2013/11/Splinter-Group—1940-Marmon-Herrington-4×4-Ford-woodie/3731451.html
That’s a station wagon, maybe one of the first SUVs (and equally as un-sporty).
The Concord has a trunk, not a cargo area. Although in all fairness, the Concord did also come as a wagon, a relabeled AMC Eagle.
The point is that high-riding coupes are nothing new, and are as useful now as the mediocre AMC from the end of the Disco era was, but much more expensive.
At least it isn’t being offered with a turbo-4.
…yet
Why, of course not!
This is PORSCHE!
They have STANDARDS of what a car should be!
Oh wow! I need a new utility coupe so I can bring all my new drinking knives home from the mall!
No, that’s not how it works these days. You do your shopping via Alexa on Amazon. You use the Porsche to go to the local organic farm to get your Community Shared Agriculture distribution for the week. If you’re really rich, the Porsche is for your personal chef to use to retrieve your share for you.
Drinking knives ? Please enlighten us bumpkins…or is it “we bumpkins” ?
Knives are to drinking what coupes are to…
The Acura ZDX doesn’t seem so silly now…
PrincipalDan writes: “DO WORD’S NOT HAVE MEANING?”
Well there’s some fine irony.