Porsche to go sub-Cayenne

GERMANY'S Autobild magazine has reported that Porsche will produce a smaller SUV stablemate for its popular Cayenne, based on next year's all-new Q5 from Audi.

Despite senior Porsche executives previously telling GoAuto the German sportscar maker would not develop a smaller SUV than the Cayenne, Autobild claims Porsche's compact luxury off-roader will be dubbed Roxster (a name for which Porsche already holds the trademark) when it surfaces around 2010.

If produced, apart from the 2008 Q5, Roxster would also compete with BMW's X3 and upcomers like Volkswagen's Tiguan and the Mercedes-Benz MLK/GLK.

"We are aware of the reports and they are baseless," said Porsche Cars Australia spokesman Paul Ellis.