2011 Porsche Cayenne: All New Plus A Hybrid

• Competes with: Land Rover Range Rover Sport, BMW X6, Mercedes-Benz M-Class
• Looks like: A small whale
• Drivetrain: 380-hp (combined), turbocharged V-6 hybrid; 300-hp, 3.6-liter V-6; 400-hp, 4.8-liter V-8; 500-hp, turbocharged 4.8-liter V-8; eight-speed automatic transmission; all-wheel drive
• Hits dealerships: Cayenne S, Turbo July 2010; Cayenne, Cayenne S Hybrid fall 2010

The sky might be falling, folks, because Porsche — Porsche! — leads off its press release about the all-new 2011 Cayenne SUV with a headline that reads, “Next Generation Porsche Cayenne Led by Intelligent, Powerful Hybrid.”

Hybrid! Sure, the 500-horsepower, twin-turbo V-8 Cayenne Turbo gets mentioned three sentences into the release, but it plays second fiddle to the new hybrid model.

That hybrid will be a Cayenne S model that packs a 333-hp, supercharged V-6 engine teamed to a 47-hp electric motor. The two can power the Cayenne jointly or separately, and unlike other hybrids on the market, the hybrid Cayenne S can run on electric power at highway cruising speeds of up to 97 mph. Porsche calls this “sailing” mode. The hybrid can also travel on all-electric power at lower speeds up to 40 mph.

The company says the performance of the hybrid Cayenne S is on par with the new, gasoline-powered Cayenne S, which has a regular old V-8 engine with some 400 hp. It sounds downright boring by comparison, but it’s 15 hp more powerful than the outgoing model with a 23% improvement in fuel efficiency. The company hasn’t released EPA estimates yet, but the 2010 model gets a combined 15 mpg.

The base Cayenne features an all-new V-6 engine that we first heard about being added to the Panamera four-door.

Beyond all the under-the-hood specifics, the main thing to note about the new Cayenne is its new stance and more on-road manners compared with the previous generation’s off-road bias. The new Cayenne S, for example, weighs 400 pounds less than the outgoing model while the SUV is 1.9 inches longer with 1.6 inches added to the wheelbase. The rear seat slides forward and back, and the rear seatbacks recline.

The new interior also mimics the Panamera, with the center console sloping up toward the dash with rows of buttons buffeting the shifter.

There are more photos below showing the one attribute we expect most readers to weigh in on. The somewhat controversial styling appears to be a more organic take on the previous model and also makes the Cayenne look a bit leaner despite the added size.