Porsche is working on a plug-in hybrid version of its Panamera five-door hatchback. No official word comes from the company, but our sources indicate that the plug-in model will come to market during the 2013 calendar year. It’s not clear yet whether the car will be sold alongside the plugless Panamera S hybrid or if it will supplant that model, but it will likely make a bit more power than the S hybrid’s 380 hp. We expect the internal-combustion portion of the equation, an Audi-sourced, supercharged 3.0-liter V-6, to remain the same.
The launch of the plug-in hybrid should coincide with the Panamera’s midcycle face lift. An entirely redesigned, second-generation Panamera is several years away, and it will be built on a new modular VW Group rear-wheel-drive platform dubbed MSB (“Modularer Standard-Baukasten“). When that car hits the road in five or so years, expect big reductions in weight and large gains in power.