High-Performance Porsche Panamera V8 Hybrid En Route

As impressive as the new Panamera 4 E-Hybrid is, Porsche has plans to make an even more potent hybrid variant of its five-door super sedan.

While at a press event in South Africa, Motoring learnt that the second hybrid Panamera won’t use a 2.9-liter V6 and will instead utilize a V8 engine mated to an electric motor.

According to Panamera sales and marketing director Dr Stefan Utsch, “With the Panamera 4 E-Hybrid we introduced our new hybrid strategy. We will have two performance-oriented performance hybrids within the Panamera model line…

“Hybrid is a really important milestone because it combines performance and efficiency. Our overall development target was to increase the spread between performance and efficiency and the hybrid really is a good example that can deliver this,” he said.

The current Porsche Panamera range-topper, the Turbo, uses a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 pumping out 542 hp and 770 Nm (568 lb-ft) of torque. If Porsche were to use this same engine for the V8 Panamera Hybrid and combine it with an electric motor, power could conceivably exceed the 700 hp mark, essentially making the car the five-door equivalent of the 918 Spyder.

It isn’t yet known when the company plans on introducing the model but according to Utsch, we “will see it sometime in the future.”