Porsche has begun production of its first diesel passenger car (the company has produced diesel tractors in its less-than-glamorous past), the Cayenne Diesel, which was unveiled at the Paris Motor Show. Production began today at the automaker’s Leipzig, Germany, production facility on the 240-horsepower V6 diesel sports-utility vehicle.
Porsche sources the diesel engine from Audi and it mates the engine to the Tiptronic S six-speed automatic transmission. Base price in Europe for the oil-burning Cayenne is €47,250.
The automaker still hasn’t confirmed whether the Cayenne Diesel will come to the United States, where Volkswagen recently unveiled its version of the platform, a V6 diesel Touareg, at the Los Angeles Auto Show.
