Porsche Panamera Hybrid: Official +video

The Porsche Panamera S Hybrid – Geneva Debut & on sale June

After we had Porsche’s Geneva Motor Show press release last week, we were in no doubt that the elusive ‘Hybrid’ Porsche said they were taking to Geneva would be the Porsche Panamera Hybrid. And so it is.

The Panamera Hybrid – officially the Porsche Panamera S Hybrid – is the next stage in Porsche’s quest to game the taxation system, and create powerful and appealing cars that don’t get clobbered by the taxman.

That means not just producing a Panamera that the taxman thinks is a fluffy-bunny car so your BIK is sensible and your write-down allowance liveable-with, but one that goes to reduce Porsche’s average corporate CO2.

Which in our mad world will reduce the penalties idiot governments impose on car makers for not hitting a baseless, pointless and arbitrary average Co2 level.

Still, those pointless Co2 averages have got Porsche to do something it might not otherwise have done – make a car with V8 levels of power with the potential for V6 levels of economy. If you look hard enough there’s a silver lining in any situation.

That silver lining means CO2 emissions of just 159g/km, a level not matched even by 3.0 litre diesels from the kings of the luxo-diesel – the Jaguar XJ and BMW 7 Series.

The hybrid gubbins in the Panamera is the same as in the Cayenne Hybrid, which means the very good Audi 3.0 litre V6 with 330bhp mated to a 44bhp electric motor. That combination can deliver 0-60mph in 6.0 seconds, just half a second behind the 4.8 litre V8 S.

The Panamera S Hybrid comes in at £86,146, which is a few grand more than the V8 version. But you do get air suspension and bigger wheels in the price so – as close as makes no difference – the V8 and the Hybrid are the same money.

Of course, the headline economy figures for the Panamera Hybrid are going to be markedly better than the V8 (although, oddly, Porsche hasn’t yet told us what the Hybrid’s mpg is), and the taxman will think you’re driving a pimped milk float.

But unless you do all your driving in town, there will be precious little difference between the Hybrid and the V8 in the real world. The choice between Hybrid and V8 probably comes down to whether you need to be seen to be ‘Green’, and whether the Panamera you buy is being paid for by your company. Good to have the choice, though.

The Porsche Panamera S Hybrid goes on sale in June

By Cars UK