Think Porsche and the car that automatically springs to mind is more than likely the venerable rear-engined 911. Even so, the marque’s real hero is arguably the Cayenne.
Porsche was teetering on the brink of bankruptcy at the turn of the millennium, prompting the Zuffenhausen carmaker’s brain trust to conceive a new volume-selling model to broaden the brand’s target audience.
Unlike all other Porsche models that started life at the Weissach Development Centre, the Cayenne was developed in secret at a facility in Hemmingen – a small town about 10km away. Strict security measures were adopted to keep the project confidential, including mirrored windows, fenced grounds and vigilant security guards.
The first-gen Cayenne launched in 2002 and – even though the inevitable sceptics brayed that it wasn’t “a real Porsche” – the model line has proved a runaway success, with more than 1.5 million sold over the past 23 years.
We’re now witnessing the most significant evolution in the sporting SUV’s timeline with the next-generation Cayenne, which makes the switch from combustion engines to a full-electric power train.
I join a group of select international media to preview the new EV. Hunkered down a few metres from us at the Porsche Experience Centre in Leipzig, Germany, is a prototype of the all-new, battery-powered Cayenne. Its bodywork is swathed in psychedelic livery, partially concealing some of the vehicle’s details. The reason for this is that the production version won’t be revealed to the world until mid-November.
Although the Cayenne EV shares its PPE (Premium Platform Electric) architecture with the electrified Macan that The National sampled in April last year, the platform has been significantly re-engineered as the Cayenne has a broader job description than its junior sibling. It must fulfil the role of both performance SUV and genuine all-terrainer, as Porsche markets the Cayenne as a do-everything chariot.
In case you’re worried that ditching petrol power in favour of a pair of electric motors has diluted the Cayenne’s capabilities, you needn’t be. The flagship Cayenne Turbo packs over 800hp, which can be amped up to almost 1100hp for brief bursts via an Overboost function.
Even though the Cayenne Turbo weighs close to 2.7 tonnes (Porsche hasn’t disclosed the exact figure for now), it rockets from 0-100kph in a hypercar-matching sub-3 seconds and blasts past 200kph in fewer than 8 seconds.
The Cayenne EV is equipped with a 113kWh battery pack that sits below the passenger cell, keeping the vehicle’s centre of gravity low. Porsche quotes a touring range of 600km-plus on a full charge. Its 400kW charging capability means a sub-16-minute zap at an appropriate fast-charging station can take the battery level from 10 per cent to 80 per cent.
Another noteworthy development is an 11kW inductive charging pad that will be offered as an option with the Cayenne. Substituting a conventional wall-box, you simply plug it in and place it on the floor of your garage. Every day, when you return from work, you simply drive your Cayenne over the charging pad – there’s no need to mess around with any cables. Leave the vehicle overnight and it will be fully charged by the time you depart for the office in the morning.
Porsche has thrown a veritable barrage of tech at the Cayenne EV, enabling it to handle like a highly capable grand tourer, yet also conquer far harsher terrain than one could imagine. Among the new Cayenne’s highlights is optional Active Ride suspension, which almost magically negates body roll under hard cornering, while also flattening out the ride over corrugated mud and gravel tracks.
For now, we can only witness all this from the passenger seat, with Porsche’s factory drivers demonstrating the Cayenne’s breadth of capabilities. Our first experience is on an off-road track that throws up 80 per cent inclines, wheel-articulation tests, water crossings and side-incline obstacles. The Cayenne romps across it all without breaking a sweat.
However, the real surprise is the Cayenne Turbo’s eye-watering pace and agility across Porsche’s Leipzig handling track. Making a mockery of its estimated 2.7 tonnes, the test driver flings the big SUV into each bend sideways at speeds that seem entirely implausible. After a couple of tyre-smoking laps we trundle back into pit lane.
Conclusion? The electrified Cayenne is a bewilderingly rapid and capable SUV. Buyers in the UAE will need to exercise patience, though, as local deliveries won’t begin until the second half of 2026. The EV models will also supplement the existing petrol-powered Cayennes rather than replacing them.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Sanju
Produced: Vidhu Vinod Chopra, Rajkumar Hirani
Director: Rajkumar Hirani
Cast: Ranbir Kapoor, Vicky Kaushal, Paresh Rawal, Anushka Sharma, Manish’s Koirala, Dia Mirza, Sonam Kapoor, Jim Sarbh, Boman Irani
Rating: 3.5 stars
Specs
Engine: Electric motor generating 54.2kWh (Cooper SE and Aceman SE), 64.6kW (Countryman All4 SE)
Power: 218hp (Cooper and Aceman), 313hp (Countryman)
Torque: 330Nm (Cooper and Aceman), 494Nm (Countryman)
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh158,000 (Cooper), Dh168,000 (Aceman), Dh190,000 (Countryman)
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
GIANT REVIEW
Starring: Amir El-Masry, Pierce Brosnan
Director: Athale
Rating: 4/5
Rajasthan Royals 153-5 (17.5 ov)
Delhi Daredevils 60-4 (6 ov)
Rajasthan won by 10 runs (D/L method)
UAE FIXTURES
October 18 – 7.30pm, UAE v Oman, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
October 19 – 7.30pm, UAE v Ireland, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
October 21 – 2.10pm, UAE v Hong Kong, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
October 22 – 2.10pm, UAE v Jersey, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
October 24 – 10am, UAE v Nigeria, Abu Dhabi Cricket Oval 1
October 27 – 7.30pm, UAE v Canada, Zayed Cricket Stadium, Abu Dhabi
October 29 – 2.10pm, Playoff 1 – A2 v B3; 7.30pm, Playoff 2 – A3 v B2, at Dubai International Stadium.
October 30 – 2.10pm, Playoff 3 – A4 v Loser of Play-off 1; 7.30pm, Playoff 4 – B4 v Loser of Play-off 2 at Dubai International Stadium
November 1 – 2.10pm, Semifinal 1 – B1 v Winner of Play-off 1; 7.30pm, Semifinal 2 – A1 v Winner of Play-off 2 at Dubai International Stadium
November 2 – 2.10pm, Third place Playoff – B1 v Winner of Play-off 1; 7.30pm, Final, at Dubai International Stadium
Nepotism is the name of the game
Salman Khan’s father, Salim Khan, is one of Bollywood’s most legendary screenwriters. Through his partnership with co-writer Javed Akhtar, Salim is credited with having paved the path for the Indian film industry’s blockbuster format in the 1970s. Something his son now rules the roost of. More importantly, the Salim-Javed duo also created the persona of the “angry young man” for Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan in the 1970s, reflecting the angst of the average Indian. In choosing to be the ordinary man’s “hero” as opposed to a thespian in new Bollywood, Salman Khan remains tightly linked to his father’s oeuvre. Thanks dad.
THE SPECS
Jaguar F-Pace SVR
Engine: 5-litre supercharged V8
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Power: 542bhp
Torque: 680Nm
Price: Dh465,071
How to help
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How has net migration to UK changed?
The figure was broadly flat immediately before the Covid-19 pandemic, standing at 216,000 in the year to June 2018 and 224,000 in the year to June 2019.
It then dropped to an estimated 111,000 in the year to June 2020 when restrictions introduced during the pandemic limited travel and movement.
The total rose to 254,000 in the year to June 2021, followed by steep jumps to 634,000 in the year to June 2022 and 906,000 in the year to June 2023.
The latest available figure of 728,000 for the 12 months to June 2024 suggests levels are starting to decrease.
