Porsche’s Supervisory Board today gave the green-light to the long-awaited mini-Cayenne currently known as “Cajun”, which is likely to be based on Audi’s Q5 platform.

Billed as a ‘new sporty model range’, the Cajun will be lighter, more efficient and less compromised in its dynamics and performance than the larger Cayenne. The recently updated Cayenne has helped consolidate Porsche’s position in the SUV sector and gave the Supervisory Board sufficient confidence to further expand its presence in the segment.

The Cajun will deploy typical Porsche features such as light weight, ease of handling and agility, providing an attractive entry model into the Porsche world and attracting new and even younger customers to the premium brand.

Just last week Porsche announced that sales had climbed 80 percent to 2.1 billion euros, spurred on by higher demand for the Cayenne and Panamera, however Porsche’s planned combination with VW is being delayed until U.S. lawsuits and some German tax-related hurdles are resolved. You may remember the controversy created in 2008 by former Porsche CEO, Wendelin Wiedeking, when Porsche announced it had secured 74pc of VW, which sent VW shares soaring and then falling resulting in more than €30bn in losses for the hedge funds involved.

Despite the subsequent fall-out it should still be a matter of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’ VW eventually absorbs Porsche into its ranks, and the Cajun represents the first of many new Porsche models we can expect to see as a result of the group’s integration.

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