Porsche continues the development of the facelifted Panamera, which following winter testing earlier this year, was spotted on the roads round the Nürburgring Nordschleife wearing slightly less camouflage in Sport Turismo guise with a plug-in hybrid powertrain, as evidenced by the twin fuel caps on either side of the car.


The facelift will introduce a range of really subtle differences in order to freshen up the Panamera and make it feel more in line with the 911. These changes will include slightly reshaped bumpers front and rear, as well as new lighting signatures for the lights all around. The test car spotted here is apparently one of the two plug-in hybrid variants of the Panamera, meaning either the 4 E-Hybrid or the Turbo S E-Hybrid. Beyond the presence of the charging flap on the left side of the car, the bright Acid Green brake calipers betray the identity of the model.

The interior of the Panamera is still considered one of the finest cabins in its segment and is expected to feature updated tech and new connectivity features but don’t expect any major design changes. The only change we can safely speculate is the replacement of the current model’s gear selector with the newer and smaller unit from the 911. The mid-life facelift of the Porsche Panamera will most likely introduce improvements across the powertrain range, including for the aforementioned electrified models which account for more than half of the total Panamera sales in Europe. There’s also a chance of introducing a more focused variant, like the one we spotted last year.


The current Porsche Panamera is offered with quite a wide range of powertrains, including a 325 HP 2.9-liter V6 in the base model, a 434 HP 2.9 V6 in the S, a 454 HP 4.0 V8 in the GTS and a 550 HP 4.0 V8 in the Turbo. The E-Hybrid combines the 2.9-liter V6 with an electric motor for a total of 456 HP, whereas the Turbo S E-Hybrid features no less than 671 HP. We still can’t tell for sure when Porsche will unveil the refreshed Panamera given the virus pandemic, but we expect them to do so in the next few months.