New Porsche Panamera Charts A New Class Record in Nurburgring

The third-gen Porsche Panamera is officially the fastest luxury saloon to lap the Nurburgring Nordschleife.

The third-gen Porsche Panamera has charted a new Nurburgring record for the luxury saloon class. What’s more interesting is that Porsche didn’t specify the Panamera variant that broke this new record, except for saying it would be the “new Panamera top model.”

Clocking in at just 7:24.17 minutes, the new top-spec Panamera obliterated the previous class record set by the previous-gen Panamera by a whopping 5.64 seconds, with Porsche test driver Lars Kern piloting the new mysterious model around the infamous ‘Green Hell’.

Porsche Test Driver Lars Kern was tasked with driving the new Panamera for its record-breaking run.

Kern was no stranger to breaking records with the Panamera, as the Porsche test driver was also behind the wheel during the performance saloon’s previous Nurburgring record-breaking feats back in 2016 and 2020. He did say that the new generation Panamera has seen significant gains” in its “transverse dynamic capabilities” compared to its predecessor, which is largely due to the new Porsche Active Ride suspension system.

While Porsche didn’t go into the details of this new top-spec Panamera model, we believe that this mysterious saloon could be the upcoming Panamera Turbo S E-Hybrid for the new third-gen model. If our speculations turn out to be true, we can expect this new range-topping Panamera to deliver more power than the regular Panamera E-Hybrid, which already boasts a decent total system output of 670 HP.

Looking at its mechanically related sibling, the Porsche Cayenne, this performance SUV gets an electrified 4.4-litre twin-turbocharged V8 mill for the top-spec Turbo S E-Hybrid variant, which boasts a total system output of 729 HP. Should the new top-spec Panamera model get the same electrified V8 setup as the Cayenne Turbo S E-Hybrid, this could easily be the most potent example of a Panamera ever made by House Stuttgart.

The mysterious top-spec Panamera model boasts some minor design cues to differentiate it from other Panamera variants.

Lucky for us, Porsche didn’t bother to drape the new top-spec Panamera in a camouflage wrap. From the official images provided, we can see that the new top-spec Panamera gets a deeper front splitter plus a slew of black trim accents around the exterior. This particular unit that lapped the Nordschleife also appears to have a carbon fibre aero kit while rolling on 21-inch centre-lock alloy wheels that are shod in Michelin Pilot Sport 2 Cup tyres.

While no interior shots were shared by Porsche, the German automaker did say that this particular Panamera model was equipped with a racing seat for the driver’s side and a rolling cage to help with its record-breaking Nurburgring run.

While the new Panamera has charted a new Nurburgring record for the “executive sedan class,"  the model is far from being the fastest four-door model ever produced by Porsche. That record stays with the all-electric Porsche Taycan, with the latest Turbo GT model recently breaking the Nurburgring EV record, clocking in at only 7:07.55.