The new Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid has 700PS | GRR
The most powerful Porsche road car you put fuel in, rather than just plug in? Until yesterday you would be right in saying the 911 GT2 RS, the most potent (0-62mph in 2.8 seconds) 911 ever that had its debut in Goodwood in 2017. Today, though, competition for the title of most powerful combustion-engined Porker comes from… a luxury four-door sedan. Yep, it’s new Panamera.
How much power? Seven hundred horsepower, to be precise. It’s a nice round figure, in Pferdstarke (PS), which is the German for power, but no less alluring as 690bhp or, for those really switched on, 514kW. Whatever language you like, the new top-of-the-range Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid can call on a lot of power.
The revised model completes an updated E-Hybrid range, Porsche’s plug-in models that combine petrol and electric motors to provide all a regular Porsche’s attributes with that increasingly important ability to silently cruise through zero emissions zones on electric power alone. Porsche might have the much acclaimed all-electric Taycan in its arsenal already but, like most other carmakers, is clearly committed to the future of the hybrid, unlike the UK government.
So what can a Panamera do with 700PS, a 21PS increase over the outgoing version? The 0-62mph times comes down from 3.4 to 3.2 seconds, and top speed goes to 196mph, 4mph up on before. Despite sharing power honours with the aforementioned GT2 RS, it is not in the same performance league (0-62 in 2.8 seconds) – but It’s not far off.
The boost is all down to a tweaked version of the 4.0-litre twin turbo V8, whose output is increased to 571PS. The electric top-up comes in the form of a motor built into the PDK transmission; that provides the same 136PS as before.
Something else has gone up too and for many it will be a more significant increase. It’s a rise in the capacity of the lithium-ion battery, from 14kWh to almost 18kWh. Th result is almost a third more electric range than before, now 31 miles, and a reduction in CO2: now starting from 61g/km.
The Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid get a new nose design, tweaked lights and larger air intakes, along with new rear lights, plus other updates that have already featured across the wider Panamera range. It also comes with the full suite of (often optional) control systems including electric roll stabilisation, torque vectoring, rear axle steering and ceramic composite brakes. Then again this range-topper costs from £140,130. Add £2,000 if you want the Sport Turismo body.
If you can do without 700PS you can trim that price by £56,000 by opting for the equally new Panamera 4 E-Hybrid, which starts at £83,720 (or £85,870 in Sport Turismo form). Yes this latest entry-level plug-in model has “only” a combined output of 462PS (340kW) but it will still do 174mph and get from 0-62mph in a brisk 4.4 seconds – while stretching the electric range to 35 miles and dropping its CO2 to 45g/km.
With the already on sale 560PS 4S E-Hybrid, Porsche now has three plug-in Panameras for the first time, all available in saloon or Sport Turismo forms. It’s not all about electrification though, since at the same time Porsche has put on sale an updated 4S which gets the same new sport front end design as others along with other range-wide updates, although no changes to its 440PS (324kW) 2.9-litre V6 twin-turbocharged engine. It costs from £92,440.