It’s hard to fathom the fact that the Porsche Cayenne has been around for almost two decades. During this time, Porsche’s first-ever SUV rose in popularity and became the brand’s best-seller, bringing in the required cash to keep the likes of 911 alive and kicking. This video explains very neatly how the Cayenne saved Porsche or better said, how Porsche saved itself with the Cayenne.

Of course, Ferry Porsche never got to see the Cayenne in the metal, but its best-selling status is a direct consequence of the amount of clever tech Porsche baked into the SUV.

Financially-speaking, things were far from rosy for Porsche in the early 1990s. In 1991, for example, the manufacturer managed to only sell 23,000 cars, which was barely half of what it managed to push in 1986. Come 1992, the company’s losses soared to 240 million German marks and it closed 1993 with just north of 14,000 cars delivered. So Porsche reacted. It had to.

First came the Boxster sports car, of which Porsche sold 32,000 cars in 1996. But the company was aiming for more and the attempt to supercharge its income culminated with an SUV. The Cayenne was born under the “Colorado” codename, from a collabo with group fellow Volkswagen.

At the end of 2008, the Cayenne sold over 105,000 units, surpassing the Porsche 911 by more than 50,000 units and to this day it is Porsche’s reigning sales champion, followed by its crossover sibling, the Macan.