Porsche premieres 309kW Cayenne GTS

Porsche's Cayenne GTS will hits a top speed of 261km/h. Photo / Supplied

Porsche is promising serious performance from its new Cayenne GTS.

The highly-motivated SUV, set to be unveiled at the Auto China 2012 show in Beijing, is powered by a tweaked version of the Cayenne S' 4.8L V8 with an impressive 309kW on tap.

The chassis has been tightened up, fitted with PASM active suspension, and the ride height has been dropped by 24mm. There's also an eight-speed Tiptronic S transmission with integrated stop/start functionality.

It will hit the legal limit in just 5.7 seconds and 160km/h in 13.3 seconds, before winding out to a claimed maximum speed of 261km/h.

Porsche reckons the weighty SUV will do all of this with the reasonably meagre thirst of just 10.7L/100km.

It borrows the aggressive front-end from the Cayenne Turbo, and adds puffed-out wheel arches and skirts and a dual plane roof spoiler.

The interior gets the sporty treatment, with leather and alcantara used extensively throughout the cabin. Front eight-way adjustable sports seats will be standard fitments.

Porsche New Zealand's sales and marketing manager Greg Clarke says the GTS - like the previous model - fits between the Cayenne S and the extremely stroppy Turbo.

"It's really for buyers who want a step up from the S, but don't want to go as far as the Turbo," he said.

"They have proven extremely popular, and that was also true as a used model. It was very desirable - if one was traded, it didn't stay on the yard for very long at all."

The new Cayenne GTS will hit New Zealand in August or September, with pricing and final specification to be announced closer to its arrival. The previous GTS was $210,000.