Porsche ups prices for MY17 Cayenne

Porsche Cars Australia (PCA) has announced an upgraded 2017 model year Cayenne range, bringing more standard equipment and price increases across the range.

On sale from today ahead of first deliveries in the third quarter of this year, the MY17 Cayenne line-up gains the new Porsche Communication Management (PCM) infotainment system now standard in the MY17 911, Macan and – from late June – 718 Boxster range.

Pictured here in the top-shelf Cayenne Turbo S, it includes a 7.0-inch colour touch-screen, navigation, voice control and, for an extra $590 with all Cayenne models, Porsche Connect Plus including Apple CarPlay via the USB connection of an iPhone.

For Australia, all seven SUV variants – including the Cayenne, Cayenne Diesel, Cayenne S, Cayenne S E-Hybrid, Cayenne GTS, Cayenne Turbo and Cayenne Turbo S – also come standard with Digital Radio, which was previously an option.

Entry-level Cayenne and Cayenne Diesel sold in Australia also score Porsche Active Suspension Management (PASM) and 14-way power-adjustable front seats as standard, instead of options.

Cayenne customers will pay for the upgrades, however, with base prices increasing by $1800 to $107,900 plus on-road costs for the diesel and $109,499 for the V6 petrol Cayenne.

Price rises are even sharper at the top-end of the range, with the flagship Cayenne Turbo S now costing $287,500 -- $3200 more than before.

At the same time, Porsche AG has revealed a new entry-level four-cylinder version of the MY17 Macan (pictured), powered by an Audi-sourced 2.0-litre inline turbo-petrol engine delivering 185kW of power over 5000-6800rpm and 370Nm of torque over 1600-4500rpm.

That makes its outputs 20kW and 20Nm up on the same engine in the Audi Q5 2.0 TFSI quattro, which costs $63,210 plus ORCs. PCA is yet to announce its pricetag for the new base version of the Macan, but in the UK it's about $4500 cheaper than the Macan S Diesel, which currently opens our Macan range at $91,900.

Porsche says the new Macan range-opener is the lightest in the range at 1770kg, sprints to 100km/h in 6.7 seconds (0.4 sec slower than the Macan S Diesel and 1.3 sec slower than the Macan S), has a top speed of 229km/h and consumes 7.2-7.4L/100km on the European NEDC cycle.

Despite previously saying it has no plans to introduce a four-cylinder Macan, PCA has now confirmed it will do just that, but not until next year due to solid demand for six-cylinder models.

"With demand of the turbocharged six-cylinder Macan S, Macan S Diesel, Macan Turbo and recently announced Macan GTS still high in Australia, PCA has elected to delay the introduction of the new Macan four-cylinder until not before calendar year 2017," it said.

Pricing: Cayenne MY16 / MY17 (plus ORCs):
Cayenne -- $107,600 / $109,400
Cayenne Diesel -- $106,100 / $107,900
Cayenne S -- $141,200 / $143,500
Cayenne S Diesel -- $144,400 / $149,300
Cayenne GTS -- $154,200 / $156,400
Cayenne S E-Hybrid -- $140,800 / $143,100
Cayenne Turbo -- $232,900 / $235,600
Cayenne Turbo S -- $284,300 / $287,500