Who did the Cayenne "undress" for?

Motion Trends,
2nd Sep. 2005.

If the electronics era brought us so many life saving, comfort and entertaining features, clever learning and communication tools, nevertheless, it inherited from the good old mechanical systems one main drawback: the irritating occasional  breakdowns.

Whatever we think about the huge reduction of service intervals and longer components life, of all the extras brought with every new system, no supplier or car manufacturer can afford to rest on such ephemeral laurels. First because they are more and more common in most cars, and second, because the name of the competitiveness game is precisely more features, more reliability and cheaper products to make and market.

If this is true about most manufacturers and suppliers, it should be even more true for high-end luxury makers. No wonder why, since the new equipments are ramping to the cheapest and smallest cars faster than the luxury makers can technically or financially "jump" ahead of the "commoners", that is, with enough real-life testing..

More. If this is true about luxury makers in general, reliability is even more crucial to brands built on this very point, at least to justify the price differences with cheaper and not much less equipped competing models.

Yes you guessed. German brands are in the first line, and Mercedes-Benz knows something about the recall costs, financially as well as in image terms.

This is why some high-end luxury brands like, or even have to reassert their differences, at least from time to time, like Porsche is doing now by introducing to many of us the "Transparent" Cayenne.

It is not so to show us its "intimate parts", like in those usual technical illustrations. No, its "intimacy" is simply reserved to the carmaker's engineers eyes, or as Porsche puts it: "the purpose of such a “laboratory on wheels”... (with) the ongoing development of safe and reliable electronic systems... (is enabling) the company’s engineers to test future electronic systems on the road under genuine driving conditions at an earlier point in time than any of the company’s competitors. The leadership ensured in this way will enable Porsche even more than before to develop the most sophisticated electronic systems with absolute reliability and outstanding performance".

|One can easily guess the interest of Porsche's very legitimate exercice, with the recent launch of the new Range Rover Sport (between the Range Rover and the Discovery), the new generation Mercedes-Benz M-Class, the approaching launch of the M-Class brother, the R-Class, (next month in the US, spring 2006 in Europe), as well as Audi's new Q7 SUV next spring (the Q7, the VW Touareg and Porsche's Cayenne are built on the same technical platform), before the arrival of  BMW's new generation X5 next year, then the latter's other US-built crossover brother (still unnamed) in about two to three years from now.

Right. What does this "Transparent" Cayenne consist of?

Large cut-outs in the doors, lids and wheel arches of the Cayenne protected by clear plastic covers for driving tests enable the development engineers to observe, check out and, where necessary, exchange virtually all electrical and electronic power-consuming items, cables and connections. With the exception of the driver’s seat, this very special model intentionally lacks its complete interior, the other seats and the dashboard, thus providing direct and free access to all electronic components fitted within the vehicle itself.

The “transparent“ Cayenne, benefiting from this open design, offers two significant advantages in one: First, the development engineers are able to emulate and configure old and new functions including sensors and actuators, as well as the infrastructure of every Porsche vehicle without a major effort, even if the function involved is actually not even included in the Cayenne.

One example is the process of testing a rear spoiler moving up automatically at speed, the complete component including its control system being fitted in the interior of Porsche’s Sports Utility Vehicle.

The second point is that this unique laboratory on wheels serves to verify not only the reliability of new components, but also their interaction within the overall system under real-life driving conditions.

Using their “laboratory on wheels“, Porsche’s engineers are able to start testing the complete on-board electronics of new model generations about a year earlier than before. And this is a significant time-saving, considering that the overall period for developing a new vehicle is only a few years.

So far engineers were not able to test new systems under realistic conditions until the first prototypes were available, at the very earliest. Now, using the “transparent” Porsche, they are in a position to check and verify environmental conditions such as heat, cold or air humidity as well as vibrations under practical driving conditions at a much earlier point in time. Starting the test phase so much earlier, the engineers are thus in a position to enhance quality to an even higher level and have more time for the set-up process so important for what can be expected from Porsche.

The “laboratory on wheels” adds a further level to Porsche’s pyramid-shaped test philosophy in the development of electronic components. This pyramid starts with the assurance of quality by suppliers and is followed by elaborate tests conducted by Porsche’s own engineers – including virtual simulation or tests on dynamometers and test rigs. Actual verification of the overall system, however, cannot start until real-time signals are generated and reliably processed in a rolling vehicle. Now the new “laboratory on wheels” also supports Porsche’s proven principle of making fewer and fewer changes the closer a vehicle comes to the start of series production.

Following the Cayenne, the current 911 Carrera was the second Porsche to enter the market with a comprehensive electronic on-board network. Indeed, without this electronic network a lot of the progress featured in the new 911 and based on the ongoing development of mechanical systems would simply not have been possible. The best example is the Sports Chrono Package which, incorporating no less than 16 control units, allows the driver of the 911 Carrera, Boxster and Cayman S to choose an even more sporting and dynamic style of motoring.

Porsche’s engineers responsible for electronic development are already working on a second generation of networks. Using a new architecture, they are systematically determining which functions are to be allocated to which control units, how many computers are in use and how the various units and systems communicate with one another. The core of this architecture is a standard platform later to be featured in all new Porsche cars. And it is precisely for this reason that the “electronic laboratory on wheels” is the ideal tool for an even more sophisticated development process.