Who says the V8 is dead! New Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid returns with 575kW, 88km EV-only range and an electrified V8
The third-generation Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid has returned faster, more efficient, with a longer all-EV range and is promising to be a better drive than ever before when it arrives in Australia in late 2024.
Most heartening for fans of performance sedans is the Porsche Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid manages to keep its twin-turbo 4.0-litre V8 that musters 441kW.
Most disappointing? You’ll be paying $486,100 plus on-road costs for the new Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid when it touches down before the end of 2024 in Australian showrooms.
But you get an incredible amount of bang for your many bucks. Combine the V8 with a 140kW electric motor mounted within the transmission and total output rises to an incredible 575kW/1000Nm. That’s 75kW/150Nm more than before.
Now claimed to be capable of accelerating from 0-100km/h in just 2.9 seconds (-0.5sec) and maxing out at 325km/h (+25km/h), the new Turbo S E-Hybrid brings a significant step-up in performance over the model it replaces and is now so quick it would trouble some hypercars in a straight line.
Perhaps more relevant in the real world is Porsche’s hybrid flagship gets a new 25.9kWh battery that stores 45 per cent more energy than before, enabling it to deliver a WLTP-verified electric range of up to 88km.
The petrol-electric powertrain can now also recover power up to a rate of 88kW.
When the high-voltage battery needs a top-up, Porsche says it now takes two hours and 39 minutes for a full 0-100 per cent fill using its 11kW AC on-board charger.
Compared to the rest of the Panamera range, the Turbo S E-Hybrid gets a new rear bumper, revised front-end and chrome-plated exhaust outlets finished in dark bronze.
As standard, the quickest-ever Panamera gets Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes (PCCB) with yellow callipers. Acid Green is an option.
Other changes include front air blades and a rear bumper strip painted in Turbonite; a metallic grey colour that also reappears in the cabin, on the centre console, steering wheel, seat stitching, door trim, dash and mats. The roof lining, meanwhile, is finished in suede-like Race-Tex.
The Turbo S E-Hybrid rides on large 21-inch centre-lock alloy wheels as standard.
New options include a carbon-fibre aero kit and stickier, track-focused Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres. The former adds revised air blades, side skirts and a rear diffuser – all made out of light-weight composite and complimented by an adaptive four-way rear spoiler.
Tick the box for the aero upgrades and at 200km/h the spoilers 60kg of downforce. That helped the Panamera recently set a new luxury-car lap record at the Nurburgring with an impressive new benchmark of 7:24.17 minutes.
As standard the Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid gets Porsche’s advanced Active Ride suspension, which employs 400-volt electronics to control the dampers. This manages rebound and compression to keep the body horizontal even under hard braking or acceleration.
Rear-wheel steering and a powerful Bose sound system are both standard.
