Porsche looks ready to give the Panamera, its largest passenger car, another mid-life nip-and-tuck.
Although it was treated to a new look and fettled powertrains in 2020, our latest spy photos would suggest another update is in the works for the four-door Porsche sedan-cum-coupe and its wagon brother.
Porsche has form on this front. The Macan was revealed in 2014, and given a major mid-life update in 2019, before a further nip-and-tuck arrived in 2021.
Rather than develop an all-new model, Porsche is extending the Macan’s life so it can be sold alongside and all-new, all-electric model. It’s not unreasonable to think it’s looking to do the same with the Panamera.
Although the exterior hasn’t really changed, the cabin of this prototype was covered. That suggests it’ll get a stubby little gear selector like the 911, and potentially the fully digital instrument cluster from the Taycan.
Porsche has previously ruled out doing a full-fat GT3 version of the Panamera, but the door is still ajar for a Turbo GT model that follows in the wheel tracks of the Cayenne Turbo GT.
With a 4.0-litre twin-turbocharged V8 engine pumping out 471kW of power and 850Nm of torque, a Panamera Turbo GT would sit as a more focused alternative to the Turbo S E-Hybrid with its more complex 514kW plug-in hybrid system and heavy lithium-ion battery.
Panamera sales in Australia are niche compared to those of the Cayenne SUV. Porsche sold fewer than 50 examples of the former, compared to more than 800 examples of the latter across its wagon and coupe body styles.
The Panamera was also outsold by the electric Taycan (531 sales), which has similar four-door coupe and wagon body styles.
