Porsche boosts performance and appeal across the range

There are a few select brands for which the words, “because I want one” are all the excuses you’ll ever need to lease yourself one. But that doesn’t mean you’ll look a gift horse in the mouth. So, if you are looking for an excuse to lease one of the world’s greatest performance saloons, you should find something useful in the latest updates to the Porsche Taycan and Porsche Panamera ranges.

Porsche is boosting the appeal of its model ranges, with an increased emphasis on comfort and luxury in both the Panamera and Taycan, plus more power and range from the all-electric Taycan.

You don’t need us to tell you what Porsche stands for. The history and racing success associated with the badge speaks for itself, and Porsche’s engineers are renowned for achieving the highest possible performance whilst simultaneously over-engineering bulletproof reliability into every car.

If you want supercar performance combined with everyday usability, a Porsche is the most logical solution.

This approach applies both to the powertrain and chassis technology of the sports car manufacturer and extends to the digital driver experience in the cockpit. And all these areas have received a few upgrades in the latest models.

If you’re considering the EV route, an all-new Taycan was introduced last year offering more power, longer range, quicker acceleration and faster charging with greater stability. Since it was launched, the Taycan has been renowned for the power and performance of its drivetrain, with a choice of rear-wheel drive or all-wheel drive. The new updates to the range build on the already extensive level of features and equipment offered as standard.

Upgrades to the Taycan

For the new model year, the specification of the Taycan and Taycan 4S now includes the Performance Battery Plus as standard across the range. This increases the capacity to 105 kWh gross up from 89 kWh and adds around 50 miles to the Taycan’s range.

Featuring electric motors with hairpin windings and an innovative 800-volt architecture, it can use DC charging stations to recharge the new battery at up to 320 kW. With the increased battery capacity of 105 kWh, overall range is up to 421 miles on a single charge, and in the Taycan 4S it can also generate up to 590bhp with Launch Control.

Equipment levels across the Taycan range have also been tweaked.

The Taycan now rides on 19 inch Taycan S Aero wheels, and Adaptive Cruise Control and Lane Change Assist have been added to the standard equipment list. There’s also a new option added to the Taycan and 4S of a leather-free interior in Pepita or Race Tex material trim, and on the mechanical side, rear-axle steering and Power Steering Plus are now a standard feature on GTS and Turbo models. It’s a similar story across the Panamera range too, except the focus is more on comfort and convenience.

What are the changes to the Panamera?

Update highlights include Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Change Assist and a Bose audio package all become standard features across the Panamera range. In addition, side airbags for the rear seat passengers, soft close doors, Surround View in the Park Assist function and a heated steering wheel are also included as standard rather than the optional extras they were previously. Noise insulating glass has also been added to range-topping Turbo models.

That’s not the end of the list either. Alongside the upgrades we’ve already mentioned, there are a few wider upgrades that impact the Tayan and Panamera too.

With the start of the new model year, the 911, Taycan, Panamera, and Cayenne all benefit from significant improvements to the infotainment technology via an expanded range of new functions. New hardware has improved the overall responsiveness of the system, and it now offers direct access to download many third-party apps.

The Porsche App Centre offers direct access to a wide range of apps from different categories, much the same as other well-known app stores. These include the usual array of popular streaming apps for music, video and podcasts, as well as news services, weather apps, and charging points for electric vehicles.

Another new feature also introduces the ability to use Amazon Alexa in addition to the existing Porsche Voice Pilot system, and to ensure a reliable user experience, the Porsche Connect package is included as standard for 10 years.

Immersive audio

With the PCM update, Porsche is also perfecting the in-car sound experience for its customers. For the first time, cars equipped with premium and high-end audio systems from brand partners Bose and Burmester – which now applies to both the Taycan and Panamera – will feature Dolby Atmos immersive sound technology to create a spatial audio experience inside the car that puts the occupants at the centre of the music. The only prerequisite for this experience is an audio source that supports Dolby Atmos, and the necessary apps for that are already available in the new Porsche App Centre.

So, as we said, you don’t really need an excuse to lease yourself a Porsche. But just in case, these new updates to the range should give you something you can work with to justify the decision.

And once you’ve made the decision, the updated Porsche Taycan and Porsche Panamera ranges are available to order now with first deliveries due sometime in the summer.