- Porsche is testing a facelifted version of the range-topping Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid.
- Exterior tweaks are hard to spot, but cabin updates likely to prove more significant.
- Current Turbo E-Hybrid packs 729 hp, but could add more since EV has 1,140 hp.
If Porsche was hoping to keep attention focused on its brand-new electric Cayenne, these latest spy shots might complicate things. Our photographers have just caught another prototype of the facelifted combustion-powered Cayenne testing, and it’s the hot one.
Last month, we brought you what looked to be the updated Cayenne GTS, distinguished by its four round tailpipes. This latest prototype appears to be the range-topping Turbo E-Hybrid, identifiable by its signature quartet of square exhaust finishers.
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As with the earlier prototype, this one’s wearing only light camouflage, meaning a launch must be close and soon enough for this to be a MY27 car. Unfortunately for anyone hoping for a dramatic redesign, Porsche seems determined to stick with subtlety.
The front end carries the same LED lights as before, but this car only has individual center grille bars, whereas the current Turbo E-Hybrid’s grille has pairs of bars. At the back, those pairs of square exhaust finishers sandwich a lower bumper section that’s designed to look like a mini diffuser.
So it looks like not much has changed, but the most significant updates may not be visible from the outside at all. We recently spotted a facelifted Panamera prototype with its center console heavily concealed, leading to speculation that Porsche could be replacing the sedan’s physical climate control toggles with a touchscreen interface.
A More Digital Experience
And if that happens, the combustion Cayenne would almost certainly get the same treatment, which would also bring it closer to the new Cayenne Electric. The EV launched last year with a more digital-heavy dashboard that makes the ICE Cayenne look a little old-fashioned.
Under the hood of the current Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid is an electrically-assisted twin-turbocharged 4.0-liter V8 that makes 729 hp (739 PS), along with 700 lb-ft (950 Nm) of torque. Porsche hasn’t revealed what’s planned for the facelifted version, but a modest bump would help close the gap on the 1,140 hp (1,156 PS / 850 kW) Cayenne Turbo Electric.
This third-generation Cayenne dates back to 2017, and was already heavily updated for MY24 in preparation for the EV’s arrival, so it’s no spring chicken. But it was Porsche’s global best seller in the first half of 2026, and now that the brand has decided to put more effort into combustion cars, it looks like it’ll be here for a few more years yet.
