Porsche has been known for their technological prowess and have constantly pushed the limits to offer driving machines like no other. Standing testimony to this fact is the Porsche Cayenne GTS-an out and out sports car that masquerades as an SUV

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Where does one begin to talk about a vehicle of this nature? It’s not your quintessential luxury SUV, it’s not your average mud plunger and neither is it a sports car. Well, when I first heard about the new Cayenne GTS from the Porsche stable I frankly thought that the company was very confused and had seriously lost the plot somewhere between practicality and outright craziness. No matter what story angle I gave to my thoughts, the Cayenne GTS just seemed like a scandalous experiment that some white-coated R&D guys decided to concoct in order to get their kicks by defying numerous laws of physics. Logic didn’t seem to prevail over the development of this product and practicality seemed to be on a paper airplane tossed out of the Porsche headquarters building in Stuttgart. Why would a company make such a vehicle I continued to wonder as I read about Cayenne GTS until I finally got the order from the Bossman here at ZigWheels to actually go and experience this outrageously conceived machine.

At last, my doubts were going to find a resting place. At last I would know why! Now, I’ve been a fan of Porsche since the moment I learnt my ABCs. The iconic 911 continues to be my favourite sports car of all time and I cannot get enough of its timeless design. I also happen to be a very big fan of SUVs. Big beasts with gizmos and gadgetry on board that allows them to traverse over just about anything in their way just make for a wonderful driving experience where you don’t even need to look for a road.  The thought of marrying the two never really occurred to me, and why would it? The sheer dynamics of conducting such an effort seemed futile.

Nevertheless, when Porsche first made the Cayenne back in 2002, I thought to myself that this was going to be special. Yes, there were the loyalists who thought that Porsche is diluting their brand image by entering the SUV market but I thought it was a perfect extension of the brand. After all SUVs are all about sports, fun, activity and performance. A lot of these attributes match those associated with sports cars as well. It was a perfect brand extension if you ask me and while I was still a fresher out of college back then, today I can proudly say that my gut instinct was right for the Cayenne has gone on to become one of the most popular Porsche models of all time, despite all the flak it has received for its looks and non-Porsche loyalist attributes.

In India the Cayenne is the number one selling Porsche model and it is this global acceptance that has lead to Porsche spawning a total of five variants in the current Cayenne stable including the Diesel, Hybrid, 4x4, S and Turbo. That wasn’t enough for Porsche though and in keeping with their basic instinct of exploring the technological frontier, the company decided to add a 6th variant to their line up; the result being the Cayenne GTS, in an all new avatar.

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