The roar however may just be slightly more muted, thanks to stricter incoming noise regulations.
While Porsche may be leaning heavily into its electrification efforts, there looks to still be some petrol coursing through its veins for a little longer yet. Such is as the German automaker has recently announced that its venerable twin-turbocharged 4.0-litre V8 will be roaring right well into the 2030s, defying the death sentence that many predicted was imminent amidst increasingly stringent regulations.
Now in explaining how Porsche plans to keep the V8 dream alive amid stricter emissions regulations, Panamera model line boss Thomas Freimuth (almost nonchalantly) revealed in an interview with Australian magazine Car Sales that new components have already been developed to see that the eight-pot will be Euro 7 compliant: “We know this engine is ready for EU7, it’s no problem. We have to add some parts which are in development, so we are ready with this V8 to go to the EU7 regulations.”
What more is that apparently courtesy of some slight changes in the Euro 7 regulations, Porsche has further touted that its V8 could be roaring without any form of electrification assistance. So those with petrol in their veins could enjoy the suck-squeeze-bang-blow right from the get go, albeit in a slightly muted manner however…
The imminent muzzling of the V8’s roar is due to the incoming tougher legislation regarding noise levels, which Freimuth believes will only continue to trend downwards over the years. “This makes it more complicated to get a good emotion to our Panamera V8,” he added, with Porsche potentially resorting to synthetic soundtracks in adding some character back to the proceedings (from the factory at least).
“We have to learn how to bring those [V8-like] emotions into our electric cars because the far future is electric so we have to find a solution for that,” he further reiterated on the topic of noise synthesis. “We’re working on it, you see it in the Taycan and there are big steps which we need to go. I think, for example, the V8 is all over the world… that’s where we are looking for emotional [inspiration], especially noises in the car, it’s very important.”
Funnily enough though, while Freimuth might say that the V8 is all over the world, the likelihood of finding one under the hood of a Porsche perhaps won’t be all that common come the next decade, in spite of the automaker’s efforts to keep it alive. Such is as in its Annual and Sustainability Report 2023 published last month, the Stuggart stallion has reiterated its projection of having EVs account for more than 80% of annual deliveries by 2030.
This particular projection is further reinforced by the automaker’s projected lineup, which sees for the recently-revealed electric-only Macan to be followed up with a similarly zero-emissions Cayenne and larger three-row SUV in future. And while its 911 won’t be going full EV for a bit longer, its smaller Boxster and Cayman counterparts will be seeing a battery-powered successor arrive by 2025 already.
