The 2009 Porsche Cayenne Hybrid is due out in model year 2008 to many awaiting fans. Now, one may argue that Porsche has no business first in the SUV arena and second in the environmental realm as well. Well as that may be, they are.

Even though Porsche is known for their high-performance cars, one can't argue with success as the standard Porsche Cayenne was the company's best selling vehicle in North America in 2005. The standard Cayenne has the first V8 engine that Porsche has build since 1995, when the 928 was discontinued.

The Porsche Cayenne Hybrid is being developed with the Volkswagen Group. The Cayenne Hybrid is expected to be a full-hybrid system containing both a gasoline-powered 4.4-liter V-8 and an electric motor, which operate both independently and interdependently.

The hybrid portion of the Porsche Cayenne is expected to share the same powertrain as Audi's Q7 hybrid. The Porsche Cayenne Hybrid will gain a 15-percent fuel savings over the standard model.

Because SUV sales have been hot all over North America for the past 5 years, with Mercedes also jumping onboard, who can blame Porsche for wanting to ride this wave and capitalize on sales? Hybrid cars are also hot now, so ditto the sentiment. The important aspect is that the Porsche Cayenne Hybrid will be a powerful, luxury vehicle that even a wealthy treehugger would like to drive. And, this can't be all bad, now can it?