2024 Porsche Panamera revealed, on sale in Australia now

Porsche's flagship Panamera range has come in for a major update.

When was the last time you saw a Panamera? Could you say which generation it was? That's a bit of a trick question, because they all sort of look the same, but it's fair to suggest you'd see ten Cayennes and two or three Taycans for every late model Panamera.

It's a critical model for Porsche, though, given the breadth of its customer base, and so now we have a new one. Yes, it looks much the same – and it largely is, with near identical measurements of 5052 mm in length, 1937mm wide and 1423mm tall – but there's little to complain about on that front.

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Third-gen Panamera, or v2.1?

First thing's first: the Panamera is once again a liftback sedan only. We liked its styling as a wagon – er, Sport Turismo – so it’s a shame that style has been stricken from the range.

Even from the distance of mere photos, the 2024 Panamera’s interior looks the business. Yes, it's a lot like the last one, but as that was a largely spot-on style, we're not expecting complaints.

As with the Taycan and a number of other new models, the Panamera's design team clearly felt more screens would improve things, so now there’s a 10.9-inch display ahead of the front passenger.

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Priced from $227,000, all 2024 Panamera models come as standard with a panoramic roof, 14-way 'Comfort' seats, soft-close doors, a cooled smartphone compartment with inductive charging function, and an “improved fine dust filter with GPS-supported, automatic air-recirculation function”.

Step up to the $402,300 Turbo E-Hybrid and you get rear-wheel steering, Porsche Torque Vectoring Plus, ioniser including carbon fine-dust sensor, and electric roll-up sunblinds for the rear side windows.

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Centre-lock mags are a boon for owners intending to track their Panamera

The Turbo E-Hybrid features a revised 4.0-litre V8 turbo engine backed up by a 140 kW electric motor for combined outputs of 500kW and 930Nm, transferred to the road through an eight-speed PDK transmission.

Porsche claims 0-100 km/h in 3.2 seconds. (Any faster and we'd imagine the air-con can’t maintain a link to the GPS satellites...)

Battery capacity for the plug-in hybrid is now 25.9 kWh, and a new 11kW on-board AC charger shortens the charging time to 2 hours and 39 minutes.

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The ‘base’ Panamera is powered by a 2.9-litre turbo V6 producing 260kW and 500Nm, representing a bump of 17kW and 50Nm over the previous model.

In this form, the Panamera lists a claimed 0-100km/h time of 5.1 seconds – still enough to blow most passengers' socks off.

The Porsche Active Suspension Management system has also been revised, the dual-chamber two-valve air suspension separating the rebound and compression stages of the damper control – targeting a greater distinction, and capability, between comfort and sports modes.

"The system noticeably dampens impacts from transverse joints and road damage while at the same time ensuring more body stability in dynamic driving situations," Porsche says.

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For the E-Hybrid, buyers can also option the Porsche Active Ride system, with new active shock absorbers.

Again, to quote Porsche: "This generates a volume flow in the damper according to demand and can therefore build up forces between the body and wheels in a lightning-fast, highly precise and targeted manner, which counteract and almost completely compensate for the forces resulting from the road excitation. A weight-saving single-chamber air-suspension system complements this technology."

An exclusive colour of Turbonite is featured on models bearing the Turbo name, serving as a contrast on the side window strips, and elsewhere on the steering wheel badge.

Pricing & availability

New Panamera deliveries in Australia are expected to begin late in the first quarter of 2024.

We do miss the wagon...