Porsche Considering Toyota Hybrid Technology

25 October 2004

Automobilwoche reports that Porsche is considering a hybrid version of its Cayenne SUV. Should the automaker decide on that course, then Toyota is the likely technology partner with its powertrain from the Lexus Hybrid.

There is a mild irony here. At the turn of the 20^th century, Ferdinand Porsche devised the first hybrid-electric autos. The Lohner-Porsches, as those vehicles were known, used electric motors combined with the wheel hubs (as we see now on the Peugeot Quark). The company later produced a line of vehicles in which a gasoline engine drove a generator to create electricity to power the electric motors.