Porsche’s development team is making the most of the cold northern European weather and putting the 2023 Cayenne Coupe through its winter paces before the snow starts to thaw.
The current Cayenne was new in 2018, with the Coupe arriving a year later, so changes for 2023 are limited to a facelift rather than a ground-up refresh. But Porsche’s designers have been busy with their digital crayons and have created a new rear light setup and subtly modified front and rear bumpers.
We’ve already seen the high-performance versions of the Cayenne Coupe undergoing winter tests, but this time our spy photographers appear to have caught the mid-range cars. Previous images showed a car with a quad exhaust setup and a second coupe that appeared to be a range-topping Turbo GT with two center-mounted tailpipes.
But this latest car has a rectangular tailpipe finisher at either side of the rear bumpers lower diffuser section, suggesting it’s a more humble Cayenne or Cayenne S, rather than a Turbo. Like its faster brothers though, this one wears a disguise designed to obscure the revised rear taillight treatment.
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There are also new light clusters at the front featuring slim, horizontal lighting elements like those seen on the Taycan, and despite disguise on the front bumper doing its best to throw us off the scent, it looks like there are changes to the design of the grille vanes and size of the front bumper lower air intakes.
Anyone disappointed by the low-key exterior changes will find more to like inside, where the Cayenne receives an updated infotainment system, digital dials, a new gear shifter inspired by the 911’s, and a fully digital instrument cluster.
We’re not expecting huge changes under the hood, which is currently home to a mix of V6, V8 and hybrid engines. But reports suggest the current 541 hp (550 PS) Cayenne Turbo’s 4.0-liter V8 could be upgraded to the tune of 89 hp (90 PS) and 60 lb-ft (80 Nm), pushing total output to the same 631 hp (640 PS/470 kW) and 626 lb-ft (850 Nm) of torque produced by the existing Turbo GT.
We’ll know more later this year when Porsche is expected to reveal the facelifted Cayenne Coupe and its more practical SUV brother as 2023 cars.
