STUTTGART, Germany — Porsches are known for the sound of their rippling horsepower under the hood, but the company’s new gas-saving hybrid runs on batteries more than half the time — leaving the driver with little more than the sound of the wheels on the road.
Using a parallel, full-hybrid design developed with Volkswagen and Audi engineers, the prototype Cayenne S Hybrid relies on a combination of internal combustion and electric power to reduce carbon-dioxide emissions and boost mileage from 14 mpg in the city to 24 mpg.
That’s still only half what the Toyota Prius hybrid gets, but then again, the Cayenne is a sport utility vehicle. The company wants to improve mileage further by the time the Cayenne S Hybrid hits the market in 2010. The Cayenne S Hybrid allows drivers to cruise up to 86 mph using electric power alone.
