About That Cajun…

When Porsche introduced the world to its first production SUV in 2003, it set off an intense, polarized debate that continues to this day. For some, the Cayenne was a crossing of the Rubicon (no pun intended) leading to the dumbing-down of a proud marque… for others, it was a new, more accessible way to experience the brand. Sure enough, sales of the Cayenne have been good (significantly better than the Cayman and Boxster combined), but Porsche seems to have let passion for its brand run out of control.

Since the Cayenne controversy, every V6 Panamera and Cayman S has given the anti-Cayenne faction evidence of the slippery slope of brand destruction they saw coming with Porsche’s first SUV (and which Jack Baruth traces back as far as the 914). And now, as if to confirm the worst fears of even some of its own executives, Porsche is throwing rocket fuel on the fire in the form of a new, smaller SUV. The question this time: after the Cayenne, Pana V6, and various sins against the fanbase (some more deadly than others), are the purists still fired up enough to rage against the Cajun?

After all, there’s been plenty of time to get used to a Tiguan/Audi Q5-based Porsche SUV. As far back as 2007, spy photos of the “Roxster” were leaking, there was plenty of back-and-forth speculation about production. But then, all of a sudden, Porsche’s sales boss came out and said

We’d rather make money on every car we sell. The larger the segment, the harder it is to make money, so a small SUV is certainly not Porsche’s way forward

Of course the first sentence makes it clear that nobody’s running around Zuffenhausen screaming “won’t someone think of the purist fanbase?” but the message was sent. Porsche “gets it.” Of course that decree predated the VW-Porsche Anschluss, and now that the profit calculations have changed, a small SUV is now officially part of Porsche’s way forward (as we’ve reported for months now). Business, after all, is still business. And as Bertel’s peek at Piech’s Porsche plans proves, there are more brand-direction controversies to come. So the question, Porsche fans, is can you deal with a second SUV?