Porsche Panamera's wider panorama

Bugatti doesn’t need to worry about efficiency so much. To Molsheim, environmental friendliness means not slaughtering too many insects on a Veyron’s 407kph path.

As part of VW Group’s might, a Veyron’s CO2 output of about 500g/km is meaningless, because there are enough 99g/km Bluemotion Polos in the world to bring Bug’s average down to about 99.1g/km.

But for Porsche it’s not quite so simple. The Zuffenhausen carmaker produces a fair few more vehicles annually than VW’s other exclusive brand; around 100,000 versus 75 pieces. So Porsche needs to offset its company-wide smog portfolio with some clean technology strewn into the 911s, Boxsters and Caymans. That’s where the Cayenne Diesel and S Hybrid came in last year, and also where the brand new Panamera S Hybrid picks up the baton.

Stuttgart calls this line of cleaner cars Intelligent Performance, and for once that’s not embroidered with splashes of marketing exaggeration. The Panamera S Hybrid really is clever, and with 380bhp, it’s no slouch either.

The best bit is that the new hybrid is based on our favourite Panamera, the V6. Only, it’s not the 3.6-litre that we heaped so much praise on during our test drive last year, but rather a new (new for a Panamera anyway) 3.0-litre supercharged V6 that you can also find under the bonnets of various Audis, VWs and the Cayenne S Hybrid. So actually it’s not the same car at all, but it does mean that the Panamera Hybrid should exhibit the same front-end eagerness as the rear-drive Panamera V6.

The S Hybrid’s supercharged combustion engine makes 333bhp and is supported by a 47bhp electric motor. Either one can power the car, and the silent whirrer operates as both a generator and a starter.

Changing cogs is the task of an eight-speed Tiptronic S transmission, and with its wide ratios the Panamera S Hybrid manages 41mpg at best. But if you feel like it, this earth-saver can also hit the ton in six seconds dead, reaching a top speed of 270kph.
The electric-only range is paltry at around two kilometres, although it works up to a speed of 85kph. More impressive is the ‘sailing’ mode, which disengages the petrol engine at speeds of up to 165kph, though thankfully it leaves you with working brakes and steering.

Making the new Panamera S Hybrid even more attractive as a four-door Porsche proposition is a longer list of standard equipment, which includes adaptive air suspension with PASM — a Dh15K option on the Dh440K Panamera S, for example.

So whether this Intelligent Performance genuinely makes sense to you, or your other car’s a Veyron and you need to offset its carbon footprint, you can order the Panamera S Hybrid right now and wait until July for GCC delivery.

Bring Dh463K.

Rivals

Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid
In the GCC we get the Mercedes-Benz S400 Hybrid, because we can’t get the brilliant oil burners, because our diesel isn’t fit for removing paint let alone running intricate direct-injected modern motors. The S400 Hybrid it is then, but it has a great stop-start system and all the commodities of an S-Class for Dh400K.

BMW Active Hybrid 7 Series
It might be expensive at Dh550K, but the BMW Active Hybrid 7 Series is extremely well equipped, both in the passenger cabin and the engine compartment. A turbo 4.8-litre V8 makes 455bhp — electric motor provides another 20bhp — for a 0-100kph blast in five seconds.

Lexus LS600h
Lexus’s Dh463K flagship houses a purring 389bhp 5.0-litre V8 that starts up silently, runs silently, and goes to sleep silently. In fact, everything is serene in the Lexus, including its styling which went out of fashion even before this car was launched. The hybrid system works well too, which is a nice bonus.