Would adding an Engine to the Taycan essentially make it a Panamera? A Porsche Debate Worth Having
Act I: A Debate, an Espresso, and a Taycan
I was standing outside the shop with Karan, watching the sun drop below the horizon and bounce off the deep curves of a Taycan Turbo. It looked fast just sitting there, like it wanted to leap forward even without making a sound.
I said, “You know what this car needs? A real engine. Something with soul. A flat-six. A naturally aspirated V8.”
Karan, ever the purist, didn’t even blink. “That’d just make it a Panamera.”
Cue dramatic pause. Cue friendly fire. Cue several hours of arguing. But here’s the thing: if Porsche ever put a combustion engine into the Taycan… they’d make it sing. And no, it wouldn’t be a Panamera.
Let’s unpack it.
Act II: Same Spirit, Very Different Souls
At first glance, a Taycan with a gas engine sounds like a marketing disaster or an engineering headache. But this is Porsche—they don’t just retrofit. They reengineer. Reinvent. Perfect.
We’re not talking about swapping a battery for a V8 and calling it done. No — if Porsche ever built this theoretical beast, they’d rebalance the weight, tune the suspension, reshape the aero, and maybe even rethink the platform to keep it just as sharp, maybe sharper, than its electric sibling.
The Taycan’s chassis already has incredible rigidity, built for the instant torque of an EV. That stiffness would give Porsche a rock-solid foundation to tune around a high-revving ICE powertrain.
And trust me: they’d make it handle like nothing else in the lineup.
What Would Actually Change?
Imagine this:
Engine: Maybe a reworked version of the 4.0L naturally aspirated flat-six from the GT3, or a lighter twin-turbo V6 — something powerful but responsive.
Balance: Porsche would relocate components to counteract front-end weight. Think carbon subframe, revised suspension geometry, even active rear steering tuned for the new power delivery.
Soundtrack: An engine that sings — not just to your ears, but through the pedals, the wheel, the seat. Raw, mechanical, addictive.
Drive: It wouldn’t launch silently. It would build. A crescendo instead of a cannon shot. Gears. Revs. Feedback.
All of a sudden, you’re not in a Panamera. You’re in something else.
Why It Wouldn’t Be a Panamera
Look, the Panamera is brilliant. A luxury GT that can smoke most sports cars and carry four adults in quilted-leather bliss.
But it’s tuned for grand touring. For Autobahn marathons. The Taycan, even now, has a more focused, more agile, more aggressive chassis. It’s a driver’s car disguised as a tech showcase.
With an engine and the full force of Porsche’s rebalancing magic, the Taycan would become something more visceral. Less silent assassin, more howling street fighter. A four-door 911 for the bold.
Act III: The Porsche That Could Be
Here’s where we landed: Karan wasn’t wrong. On the surface, an engine might steer the Taycan closer to the Panamera’s lane.
But Porsche doesn’t do “surface.”
If they ever took that leap, it would be something entirely new. Not just an engine swap, but a reimagined Taycan. A brutal, beautiful expression of what a modern Porsche could be if electrons weren’t the only option.
And it wouldn’t just be about making noise. It would be about balance. Feel. Feedback. A new benchmark.
Not a Panamera.
Not just a Taycan.
Something Porsche hasn’t built yet—but maybe should.
Final Thought
We live in a world where Porsche makes an electric sports sedan that outdrives supercars and a V8-powered luxury barge that can lap the 'Ring.
So yeah, maybe the idea of a gas-powered Taycan sounds unnecessary.
But unnecessary is where passion lives.