One person in particular was deeply impressed by the Cayenne’s capability: Walter Röhrl. In his role as a development driver, he was already enthusiastic about the first prototypes of the new off-road sports car, but in Spain he was to see for himself the capabilities of the new car on a specially built off-road test track. He still remembers arriving in the south of the country and feeling astonished at what the Cayenne was expected to overcome during testing: "I thought they weren't serious. I was sure it couldn't manage these gigantic obstacles. But it did. That really impressed me."
He shares more memories on this chilly May morning more than 20 years later, as he sees all the Cayenne and Panamera generations in front of him in the pit lane of the Leipzig Experience Centre. He walks up to the current Cayenne Turbo GT, gently runs a finger along its spoiler and says, surprised at himself: "This is perhaps one of the sharpest cars they've ever built. At first you think: that's a truck. But it drives … it's just incredible. The precision, the power, the balance. Maybe when you're braking, then the sense of the weight comes through, but I'm also doing over 250 km/h here at the end of the straight – most cars can't even manage that."
