Porsche's big idea: Add flagship model above Cayenne

ATLANTA — Nearly two decades after it redrew what defines a Porsche, the German sports car brand is poised to do it again.

The company is developing a vehicle that is larger, longer and wider than the Cayenne midsize crossover, the brand's biggest nameplate, according to U.S. dealers who were recently shown a rendering of the vehicle.

One dealer described it as a "new style of vehicle that is part sedan, part crossover" with a "rakish" profile.

A spokesman for Porsche Cars North America said the company won't comment or speculate on future models, but he said the automaker has become "very open in sharing ideas under an initiative — Porsche Unseen — the majority of which don't make it beyond the ideas stage" but serve as inspiration.

The new vehicle is slated to arrive in the second half of the decade and could offer three rows — a first for a Porsche.

"It's very un-Porsche-like," another dealer familiar with the vehicle said. "It has a flat rear design; it's not anything like the Macan and Cayenne."

While Porsche did not disclose details of the powertrain, dealers expect it to be a plug-in hybrid at launch. A battery-powered vehicle could follow.

The new nameplate could be related to a flagship electric vehicle Volkswagen Group is developing for Audi, Porsche and Bentley in Germany.

That vehicle, code-named Landjet, will be built on a new assembly line at VW Group's factory in Hanover, Germany, Handelsblatt reported.

The addition of a people-hauler under the Porsche brand is aimed at attracting younger customers.

The median age of Porsche car owners is 60, compared with 38 for the brand's crossover owners, according to AutoPacific's 2021 New Vehicle Satisfaction Survey.

"The current Porsche crossover SUV portfolio can only accommodate small families, as both Macan and Cayenne are two-row models," AutoPacific analyst Ed Kim said. "By adding a three-row model, Porsche crossover SUV owners will no longer need to leave the brand as their families grow in size."

Porsche has shown it is not afraid to throw tradition aside when it sees a market opportunity.

It recognized the potential of SUVs and crossovers in the early 2000s and launched the Cayenne in 2002, followed by the Macan compact crossover in 2013. They are now Porsche's volume leaders.