New Cayenne Turbo S is the SUV that can hound a 996 911 GT3

Porsche has released its most potent Cayenne yet, the new range-topping Turbo S. Unveiled at the Detroit Motor Show, the new Turbo S shares its 4.8-litre twin-turbo V8 with the regular Cayenne Turbo, but lifts outputs to 419kW/800Nm, a 51kW/100Nm improvement over the standard Turbo and 15kW/50Nm more than the previous generation Turbo S.

This slashes the 0-100km/h time to a faintly ludicrous 4.1sec and lifts top speed to 284km/h, which is probably as fast as you really want to go in something that weighs the best part of 2.2 tonnes. For the first time in memory, Porsche has also claimed a Nürburgring lap time for the Cayenne Turbo S, which may or may not have something to do with Range Rover bleating about its forthcoming Sport SVR being the fastest SUV ever to lap the famed German track with a time of eight minutes and 14 seconds.

The new Turbo S smashes that with a time of 7:59.74, which puts it within a whisker of the 996 GT3, which became Porsche’s first regular production car to break the eight-minute barrier back in 1999. That’s progress for you.

Its circuit prowess is partly down to its enormous brake package, with 420mm carbon-ceramic discs and 10-piston (yes, 10!) calipers up front and 370mm discs and four-piston calipers at the rear. The chassis, too, benefits from the latest technology, with PDCC active roll stabilisation and torque-vectoring helping keep everything pointed in the right direction.

Cosmetic changes include 21-inch wheels in a 911 Turbo design and active LED headlights. The Cayenne Turbo S lands in Australia in the second quarter of 2015 priced at $284,700, and we’ll let you know what it’s like from behind the wheel next month.