Just over a half-decade old, the Porsche Cayenne provides a valuable real-world lesson about the business of building automobiles: a couple of lessons in fact.
First and foremost, the 2002 debut of the V8-powered Porsche SUV proved you could teach an old dog new tricks: the perennial sports car builder pulled off the improbable to design and produce a crackerjack luxury sport SUV right out of the gate.
Though a little late to that category, the Cayenne quickly caught the attention of the well-heeled looking for a little five-seater excitement, and by 2005 - just three years into production - the SUV became Porsche’s top selling model in North America with more than 100,000 units sold.
Even Porsche traditionalists, who were initially convinced Dr. Ferry Porsche was spinning in his grave at the very notion of a Porsche ‘truck,’ grudgingly grew to accept the Cayenne - though more for the fact its robust sales figures dramatically improved Porsche AG’s financial forecast - which meant the company would be making two-seaters well into the 21st Century (an outlook in the late-1990s that appeared unlikely).
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