Yes, Porsche Still Makes A V8 Engine (And Here's What It Powers)

German engineer Ferdinand Porsche already had experience working with Daimler-Benz when he set up his own firm in 1931. Later in the decade, he was hired by Adolf Hitler's government to design the Type 1 Volkswagen Beetle, which was first imported to the United States in 1949. The year before that, Porsche and his son had established their own automaking business in Austria with the help of 200 employees. In June 1948, their first car, the 356, hit the road. It was powered by a four-cylinder, 1.1-liter engine borrowed from Volkswagen, although the Porsche team boosted its output to a whopping 35 horsepower. 

Porsche began making its own engines less than a decade later, but stuck mostly to four- and six-cylinder powerplants early on. The company's first V8 didn't arrive until 1978 under the hood of the 928. Porsche has a long history of success in auto racing, including a record 19 wins at the grueling 24 Hours of LeMans. Those efforts have kept Porsche's engine manufacturing chops sharp over the years. While some of Porsche's most iconic models like the Carrera and 912 have relied on four-and six-cylinder powerplants, Porsche still makes some mighty potent V8 powerplants. Read on to discover all the current Porsche models which can be purchased with a V8 engine. 

Porsche's existing lineup features seven different models with V8 engines in slightly different configurations. While the 2024 Panamera and Panamera S come with a 348 horsepower, 2.9-liter V6, the 2023 Panamera GTS is still available with a 4.0-liter V8 that makes 473 horsepower and 457 lb-ft of torque. If you want a 2024 Panamera with a V8, you can drive home the E-Turbo hybrid version of that model, with that same twin-turbo V8 paired with an electric motor. In combination, they produce 670 horsepower and 685 lb-ft of torque. That's enough to get the Panamera E-Turbo hybrid from 0-100 kilometers per hour (62 miles per hour) in just 3.2 seconds. For 2025, the Panamera will get upgrades to the electric motor, batteries, and charging system, but will see the V8 be replaced by the familiar 2.9-liter V6 in the Panamera 4 Panamera 4S E-Hybrids. 

You can stray from the Panamera line if you want a V8-powered Porsche, though. The 2024 Cayenne GTS has a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V8 capable of 454 horsepower and 457 lb-ft of torque. In the Cayenne Turbo GT, that same engine is tuned to deliver 650 horsepower and 627 lb-ft of torque. When supplemented by the electric motor in the Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid, the two powerplants together put out 729 horsepower and an even 700 lb-ft of torque. The base-level Cayenne S gets all-wheel drive and a version of the 4.0-liter V8 that makes 468 horsepower and 442 lb-ft of torque.