New Porsche Panamera facelift spotted in high-performance hybrid form
Porsche is planning further upgrades for its Panamera, spotted here in high-performance hybrid guise
Porsche has been spied testing yet another new iteration of its Panamera saloon, with more subtle updates in the works. This is part of the company’s plan of continual improvement for its combustion models, something that’ll be seen across both the Panamera and the current Cayenne.
This specific prototype is a high-specification hybrid, which is obvious from the ‘Turbo’ centre-lock wheels, carbon ceramic brakes and left-hand mounted charge-flap. All these suggest this is a development of the existing Turbo or Turbo S e-hybrid, or possibly even a new, higher-performance derivative.
New elements include a redesigned front bumper hiding underneath the boxy camouflage. This prototype appears to retain the daytime running lights from the existing model, but the bumper around them should change. However, the Turbo’s complex of radiators and charge-coolers still requires lots of airflow, so the overall design won’t be able to differ too much from the existing car’s.
The rear bumper also features some boxed cladding. This could be hiding some form of aerofoil, or another airflow-management feature. Porsche’s new all-electric Cayenne Turbo has movable aerofoils to help smooth the airflow off the back of the car; while mechanical items such as this are unlikely to reach the Panamera, fixed or more integrated versions could be on the cards.
Look closely at the rear lights, and it’s clear that another change could be in the works. On the current Panamera, the Porsche badge is mounted below the main light bar. However, this car doesn’t appear to feature any badge or boxing in that position, suggesting that the Panamera could follow the new Cayenne Electric by integrating illuminated Porsche script into the main light bar.
There are sure to be other changes that we can’t yet see, too, mainly focused around the cabin and tech. The current Panamera features the same 12.3-inch touchscreen as pretty much all of Porsche’s four-door models, but with the new Cayenne Electric featuring a more sophisticated curved display, the more expensive Panamera may well be in line for some upgraded tech.
Given the inconsistency of model cycles at the moment, with many combustion cars on life-support, we could see these changes as soon as this year.
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