Hybrid to join Panamera's V10

PORSCHE’S first four-door sedan, the Panamera, will ultimately be produced with a wide range of engines – including a range-topping V10 model and even a petrol-electric hybrid version.

That’s the word from a Porsche insider, which flies in the face of previous reports that the Lamborghini Gallardo’s 5.0-litre V10 would not fit under the bonnet of the forthcoming Porsche ‘gran turismo’.

However, it seems that Porsche intends installing the 5.7-litre quad-cam V10 from the now-discontinued Carrera GT, which produces 450kW and will give the four-seater supercar levels of performance, the source told GoAuto.

The front-engined Panamera will be Porsche’s fourth model line (joining the 911, Boxster/Cayman and Cayenne) and will be launched in 2009.

With Porsche celebrating the 60th anniversary next year of its first production car – the classic 356 rear-engined sports car in 1948 – the company may choose to unveil this significant new model at the 2008 Paris motor show.

Variants of the current Cayenne’s engines – a 213kW 3.6-litre V6 and a 283kW 4.8-litre V8 – will drive the rear wheels of the volume models in the range.

Within two years of launch, Porsche will also offer a hybrid version using the same drivetrain as the Cayenne Hybrid revealed to GoAuto this week. This employs the V6 engine and a 34kW electric motor driving through the normal six-speed Tiptronic transmission.

Porsche’s project manager for the Cayenne Hybrid, Dr Michael Leiters, believes the Panamera Hybrid will be the world’s fastest hybrid when it comes to market.

“I don’t know what the other brands are doing,” he told GoAuto in Germany last week, “but you can expect, yes.” Dr Leiters said that the ‘power-split’ hybrid systems used by other manufacturers are not suited to realising high top speeds, but Porsche’s ‘parallel’ system – with the electric motor located between the petrol engine and the transmission – made it possible to provide the dynamic ability required by the Stuttgart company.

“You will have fun driving a Panamera hybrid,” he promised. “It will have 150kg more weight, but there will be a special set-up for it and it will be very dynamic like any Porsche.” The Panamera’s body will be produced at Volkswagen’s Hanover plant before being assembled in a new facility at Porsche’s Leipzig plant, where the Cayenne is also built.

With the Panamera expected to add about 20,000 sales a year globally on top of the Cayenne’s 35,000, the Leipzig plant will soon account for almost half of Porsche’s expected total of around 120,000 vehicles in 2009.

Porsche is targeting four-door luxury sports cars like the Mercedes-Benz CLS and Maserati Quattroporte, as well as a new BMW set for release in 2010.

Engineering work on the Panamera has finished and it is now going through durability and validation testing.

The source told GoAuto the Panamera has excellent rear-seat headroom for even tall passengers and added that the car is causing “much excitement” at the Weissach technical centre and test track.

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