Porsche was first to the market with an SUV model based on the vehicle architecture developed jointly between Volkswagen, Audi and itself. The original Cayenne was released back in 2002, one year ahead of the VW Touareg and four years ahead of the Audi Q7. The sports car brand is now reported to pushing VW to speed up development of projects that are shared in common, namely, the replacement design for the SUV family.
Execs at Porsche hope to launch the new Cayenne by the first half of 2010, however, the second-gen Touareg isn’t due to make an appearance until late 2010 at the earliest. Germany’s Automobilwoche reports that Porsche boss Wendelin Wiedeking is using his ever increasing control of VW Group to rush projects that would favor Porsche, even if it disadvantages VW. Audi, meanwhile, isn’t expected to replace its Q7 SUV with a new model until 2013.
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