Porsche Panamera Hybrid to be release in 2011
October 7, 2010
Mathias Muller, Porsche’s new CEO and president, confirmed to reporters that aside from a hybrid version of its Panamera sedan, the carmaker is also working on a plug-in hybrid variant. Muller also revealed that Porsche is also considering a variant with a turbocharged V-8. Muller said that Porsche is preparing a business case for the Panamera PHEV mule, which he claims to have recently driven.
Notably, this PHEV hybrid wasn’t built upon the standard Panamera Hybrid powertrain, which mates a 3.6-liter V-6 with a 34-kW electric motor. Rather, the test car was based on the Panamera Turbo, which features a 500hp, 4.8-liter twin-turbocharged V-8.
It’s unusual for this hot engine to be paired with a hybrid system but it means that drivers could leave the engine off in daily driving, and only use the powerful V-8 for when they feel like going fast. This is actually similar to what Porsche had proposed with its 918 Spyder concept, which was recently approved for production. Muller revealed that only 918 examples will be produced and that 257 of these are meant for North America. Via Automobile.com
