Porsche Cayenne Facelift first spied, caught uncovered

Changes are coming for the Porsche Cayenne. The Stuttgart SUV will always be easily recognizable, but the current generation needs a refresh and these new spy plans give us a first glimpse of what that means. Our spy team were lucky, catching this prototype discovered in broad daylight, although Porsche still uses a trick to hide the details. However, this is not enough to prevent us from seeing the big picture.

As is often the case with a vehicle refresh, exterior changes are relegated to the front and rear. Thinner headlights are coming for the Cayenne, although Porsche uses shiny tape against the black finish to try and disguise the smaller lenses. New headlights mean new front fenders and a new hood, the latter looking more sculpted with sharper creases on the body lines leading from the headlights. And of course the fairing grille is wider – that’s certainly the trend with automakers these days and the design adds some aggressiveness to the Cayenne’s face.

From there we draw our attention to the back, where we see very obvious position lights for new tail lights. It’s impossible to know what the new taillights will look like, but it looks like the bulk of the lights will now be on the rear side panels as opposed to the tailgate. In fact, the tailgate and lower fairing are completely different, with the license plate moving low and the door appearing much narrower.

At this early stage, we haven’t heard anything about any interior updates, but it’s not unreasonable to expect a slightly larger touchscreen. The center console and shift lever will also likely receive an update to match other models in the lineup. Likewise, information is still unknown on the powertrain modifications. Cayenne’s current lineup spans the gamut from just plain fast to blazingly fast, and there’s no reason to expect that to change.

Finally, we come to deadlines for a reveal and it’s also something of a mystery at this point. Considering this is our first sighting and the prototype still carries placeholder components, a start at the end of this year as a 2022 or 2023 model is very likely.