While the concept was definitely around before the year 2001, “The Fast and the Furious” put the idea of the 10-second car on the map, with the plot centering around the creation of a Supra that could run the quarter-mile that quickly. That became the benchmark for quarter-mile times, but more than 20 years later, when road cars are quicker and more powerful than ever before (and more accessible), there still are only a few 10-second cars you can buy from the factory. Now there’s a new model we can add to the 10-second car list: the 2026 Porsche Cayenne Electric. In Turbo trim, the Cayenne EV will run the quarter-mile in 9.9 seconds, according to Porsche. That is really freaking quick. In fact, I think it’s the lowest quarter-mile time of any SUV on sale, more than half a second quicker than the Lucid Gravity. And it’ll reach 60 mph in a Porsche-claimed 2.4 seconds, matching the new Porsche 911 Turbo S hybrid. Jeez.
Porsche unveiled both the Cayenne Turbo Electric and the not-as-quick-but-still-quite-quick base Cayenne Electric on Thursday, with both set to reach dealerships in the U.S. in Summer 2026. As the German automaker is totally overhauling its electrification plans, the Cayenne EV will be sold alongside the existing third-generation internal-combustion model, which will soldier on with gas and plug-in-hybrid powertrains through the end of the decade at least.
Gat dayum!
To achieve that absolutely blistering quarter-mile time, Porsche gave the Cayenne Turbo Electric a dual-motor setup that pumps out 1,139 horsepower and 1,106 pound-feet of torque when using launch control; in normal driving it only has 844 horses, and pressing the push-to-pass button on the steering wheel gives an instant boost of 173 hp. That makes the electric Cayenne Turbo the most powerful roadgoing Porsche ever, eclipsing the 1,092 hp and 988 lb-ft of the Taycan Turbo GT. Porsche doesn’t give a trap speed for the Turbo, but it should be at least 130 mph if not more — the automaker says the car’s top speed is 162 mph. For some comparisons, in Car and Driver‘s testing the 828-hp Lucid Gravity Grand Touring ran the quarter-mile in 10.9 seconds at 131 mph after reaching 60 in 3.1 seconds, while the V8-powered, plug-in-hybrid Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid clocked an 11.3-second quarter-mile with a 124-mph trap speed and a 3.1-second 0-to-60 run. The Turbo’s rear motor has direct oil cooling for high continuous output and efficiency to ensure that performance is repeatable.
If that’s simply too much for you, the base Cayenne Electric has a much more reasonable 435 hp and 615 lb-ft with launch control active (402 hp normally), good enough to send it to 60 mph in 4.5 seconds and a top speed of 143 mph. And in addition to being quick as heck, the Cayenne Electric can tow as much as 7,716 pounds, better than the vast majority of electric SUVs. Expect more variants to launch in the near future to fill out the model range — surely there will be an S and a GTS, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed for a Turbo GT.
It charges quickly, too
Porsche isn’t yet saying what sort of range the Cayenne EVs will get, but they have a 113-kWh battery pack with double-sided cooling for better thermal management. Like the Taycan and Macan Electric, the new Cayenne has an 800-volt architecture that allows for DC fast-charging at 400 kW, so you can charge from 10% to 80% in less than 16 minutes. The driver’s side rear fender has an NACS port that’s only for DC fast-charging (a CCS adapter is included), while the passenger side has a J1772 port for AC-only slower charging. A couple months ago Porsche announced that the Cayenne will have optional wireless inductive charging, which can juice up the battery at up to 11 kW when the car is parked above a floor plate.
The automaker says the Cayenne Electric has “Formula E levels of energy recovery” under braking, and the recuperation power is quite immense: 600 kW, which is a whole 200 kW more than the Taycan. 97% of all everyday braking can be handled just by the electric motor, with the actual friction brakes not needing to intervene. (It seems like Porsche is still avoiding giving its EVs one-pedal driving, which is a shame.) Carbon-ceramic brakes are optional on the Turbo.
Porsche
Adaptive air suspension with Porsche Active Suspension Management is standard on both models, and the Turbo gets the Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus rear differential. You can get rear-axle steering that turns the rear wheels up to 5 degrees, a couple more than the existing gas-powered Cayenne. Porsche’s brilliant Active Ride suspension system is also available, having first debuted on the Panamera and Taycan. In addition to being able to lift or lower instantly, it essentially eliminates body roll and can even lean into corners and cancel out pitch and dive.
It’s big outside
The exterior design isn’t really surprising, as Porsche has been showing it off with minimal camouflage for months now. It’s pretty damn big, measuring 196.3 inches long (2.2 inches longer than an ICE Cayenne), 78.0 inches wide (a tenth narrower) and 65.9 inches tall (a couple tenths lower). The biggest different is in the wheelbase, which has been stretched by almost 5 inches to 119.0 inches. To me, especially having seen some prototypes in person, the proportions are more wagon-y than past Cayennes. It has strong shoulders and prominent fender flares, a very Porsche-like nose with a large lower opening but no upper grille, and a similar rear end and diffuser treatment to the Macan. The design of the lower body cladding helps hide the mass of the battery pack, and you can spec an Off-Road Design package with different fascias. Pictured above in silver is the base Cayenne, which has slightly subtler bumper designs.
Porsche
Despite its size, the Cayenne Electric is one of the most aerodynamic SUVs on the road. Its drag coefficient of 0.25 is just 0.01 off the Gravity and Tesla Model X, achieved with things like active cooling flaps in the lower grille, air curtains in the front bumper, an almost totally smooth underbody, an adaptive rear spoiler, and optimized wheel designs. Frameless door glass helps, too. But by far the coolest design feature are the Turbo’s aero blades, which extend out from the corners of the bumper to extend the lateral tear-off edges, improving air flow and increasing range at higher speeds. I’m sure that’s true, but they also just look awesome. There will be a Coupe version of the Cayenne coming soon, which should be even slipperier.
Porsche says this is the most “comprehensively and individually customizable” Cayenne yet, and thank God for that. In addition to 13 standard colors, like the new Mystic Green on the Turbo in these photos, it’ll have a bigger range of Paint to Sample colors than the Cayenne currently does. There are also nine different wheel options ranging from 20 to 22 inches, 12 different interior combinations, five accent packages and five interior packages. If that’s not enough, the Cayenne can be personalized through Porsche’s basically limitless Sonderwunsch program to create a one-off.
And it’s big inside
Back in September Porsche released the first images and information about the Cayenne Electric’s screen-heavy interior, but now we get to see more than just the dashboard. In addition to a 14.25-inch OLED digital gauge cluster, the new Cayenne has what Porsche calls the Flow Display, a kinked OLED touchscreen running a redesigned infotainment system with increased customization, easier access to vehicle functions, and more third-party apps. A 14.9-inch passenger touchscreen is optional, as is an augmented reality head-up display that “represents an 87-inch display area 10 meters in front of the vehicle.” But it’s not all screens. There are physical switches for climate controls, a volume knob, and a handful of other buttons, along with real buttons on the steering wheel. A hand rest just below the center screen is what Porsche calls the Ferry Pad, making it easier to do things while in motion.
Porsche
Thanks to that long wheelbase there’s more passenger space, especially in terms of rear legroom, and the rear seats are electrically adjustable as standard for the first time. Other new features for the model include a huge electrochromic panoramic sunroof, animated ambient lighting, and heated armrests and door panels. With the rear seats up the Cayenne Electric has 19.5 cubic feet of cargo space, about three cubes less than a current Cayenne E-Hybrid, but fold them down and you get 56.1 cubic feet of room, a slight improvement. There’s also a 3.2-cubic-foot frunk.
On sale next summer
Both the Cayenne Electric and Cayenne Turbo Electric are available to order now, with deliveries set to start at the end of summer 2026. The base Cayenne EV will start at $111,350 (including $2,350 destination), $20,200 more than a nonhybrid base Cayenne but only $7,800 more than the Cayenne E-Hybrid. That’s not bad. The Cayenne Turbo Electric will set you back $165,350, just $500 more than a Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid. Porsche says its SUV customers can now get a matching Swiss-made custom-built timepiece from Porsche Design, but you shouldn’t do that because it’s corny.
In a market that’s getting increasingly saturated with new electric SUVs, the 2026 Porsche Cayenne Electric seems like a strong entry, even without the promise of a sub-10-second quarter-mile time. It remains to be seen whether buyers will really go for an electric Cayenne or if they’ll prefer the older, slower, less-advanced internal-combustion model — the Macan EV has been outselling the gas one this year, so maybe there’s hope for the future.
Porsche
