Bartek Sikorski

LEEDS, Ala. -- Fuel-stingy hybrid powertrains may not make a sports-car driver's heart leap, but that won't keep Porsche from offering the gasoline-electric power plants on its future models, starting with the Cayenne SUV and the swoopy new Panamera four-door.
Porsche's new relationship with Volkswagen -- the tiny sports car specialist is now the controlling stockholder in the massive automaker -- is the key. VW's size gives Porsche the volume to develop hybrids and whatever other technology the future demands, Porsche executive Bernd Harling told me in a shaded tent while five of the company's new sports cars zipped past us on the beautifully landscaped track last week at Barber Motorsports Park east of Birmingham, Ala.
"Going forward, Volkswagen is the key," Harling said. "Porsche's low volume means we're limited in our research and development. We must focus on what we can do best."
For the moment, that means high-output gasoline engines and superb handling, but the link with VW made the hybrids, both of which should go on sale in 2009, possible, and even opens the door to a possible Porsche diesel in the future.
Porsche did most of the engineering for VW's upcoming Audi Q7 hybrid SUV, as well as engineered the basic structure of the vehicle when it developed the Cayenne.
Porsche will adapt that system to power the Cayenne and Panamera. Expect the sports-car specialist to tune the hybrid to increase performance as well as fuel economy, and look for it to offer a full hybrid system, one that's capable of an electric motor driving the vehicle some distance and up to 20 miles an hour or so without ever turning the engine on.
Porsche doesn't expect its hybrids to be big sellers, but they will insulate the company from environmental criticism.
"Regardless of whether we use a diesel or a hybrid or hydrogen for power ... the heart of Porsche is to shoot for a limited volume of people who want the handling of a great sports car," Harling said.
Some European car buffs have worried that concerns about global warming could lead to fuel economy standards that would virtually outlaw small companies like Porsche that only make high-performance cars. The recent creation of a holding company to oversee both Porsche and VW could provide a route out of that trap.
Porsche might average its emissions on a corporate basis, benefiting from the fact that VW's brands sell hundreds of thousands of compact and subcompact cars every year.
U.S. automakers have done the same thing for decades, exceeding corporate average fuel economy requirements with inexpensive little cars so they could sell the big cars they made money on.
If regulators "don't take all the fun out of driving, there will always be a place for Porsche," Harling said. "It is still legitimate to enjoy driving."
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