I'm pretty curious to see the future of the high power SUV over the next three years. Porsche took the high power SUV a step forward and I'm sure neither Mercedes nor BMW will stay behind. What this means? Well, I suppose we'll see a 476 HP ML 55 AMG from Mercedes and maybe even a V12 bi-turbo version from Mercedes. BMW probably will offer the V10 with 500 HP or little less. That said, Porsche will be forced to increase power to at least 500 HP and we might even see SUVs with 600 HP. I'm not sure where this will lead, especially because of fuel consumption and environmental issues but I guess that the only chance for such high power monster SUVs will be...REDUCING WEIGHT. I bet we'll see some high power SUVs below 2000 kg by 2004 or 2005 and I'm pretty curious to see what Porsche will do about the Cayenne.
If Mercedes and BMW offer 500 HP versions of their new SUVs with a weight below 2.2 tons, Porsche is in serious (performance) trouble. It will be an interesting time but unfortunately these babies will cost so much that they'll stay the toys for a limited number of customers. Most customers probably will go for the V6 or Diesel engines.