New flagship Porsche Panamera sets record time at the Nürburgring

Porsche on Monday confirmed its new flagship Panamera set a blistering new lap record at Germany's infamous Nürburgring Nordschleife.

Experienced test driver Lars Kern steered a pre-production version of the high-performance touring saloon — which will likely wear the Turbo S E-Hybrid nameplate — around the fearsome circuit in a time of 7:24.17: a full 5.64 seconds faster than the comparable model of the previous generation. 

This achievement makes it the fastest car in the Nürburgring's luxury class category. 

Though Porsche hasn't delved into too much technical detail about this potent new model, it did confirm power is provided by an electrically supported eight-cylinder combustion engine.

The vehicle also sports a new Porsche Active Ride chassis, a set of specially developed Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 tyres (275/35 ZR 21 front, 325/30 ZR 21 rear) and an (optional) Carbon Aerokit designed to eliminate lift on the front axle at higher speeds. Porsche has also a fitted a Gurney flap to the adaptive four-way rear spoiler. 

“Its cornering and body stability are on a whole new level,” said Kern.

“As a driver, this gives me a good feeling and further underlines that our development doesn’t just offer maximum day-to-day driving comfort, but also makes a real difference on the Nürburgring Nordschleife. No other Porsche offers such a wide spectrum between comfort and sportiness. The new Panamera combines the positive properties of an exclusive touring saloon with the handling of a sports car.”

Porsche said it would upload a YouTube video of Kern's lap soon.