2025 Porsche Car Updates: a 911 Hybrid, a Better Taycan, and New Panameras
Porsche is not messing around. Its electric future is here.
Porsche marches on toward its electrified future this year, with a few substantial updates to its car lineup. The German brand’s most celebrated sports car receives a pretty sweet hybrid model as part of a refresh. Porsche’s all-electric sedan and wagon also see some important platform upgrades that meaningfully improve range and charging.
Change is in the air, as the brand’s two small sports cars trade internal combustion power for electric. Here's what's new and different with every 2025 Porsche car.
2025 Porsche 718 Cayman: What’s New
In what is likely the 718 Cayman’s final model year with an internal combustion powertrain, the small mid-engine sports car carries over unchanged from the previous model year. Porsche has confirmed the next-generation model will be an all-electric affair (more on that below), and if our experience with the new Macan EV is any indicator, we are cautiously optimistic that the electric 718s will be as fun to drive as the gas versions. The fastback coupe lineup previously received an update for 2024, when Porsche introduced a Style Edition package for 718s with the base engine.
2025 Porsche 718 Cayman Pros and Cons
Pros
- Fun to drive hard
- Standard with a manual transmission
- Appropriately sporty exterior
Cons
- Gas Cayman swan song
- Tire noise at speed
- Lacks some standard features
2025 Porsche 718 Boxster: What’s New
Like its hardtop sibling, the gas 718 Boxster is probably not long for this world, to be replaced by an all-electric version for 2026. In the meantime, the 2025 model is a carbon copy of the 2024 Boxster. The convertible received a Style Edition package for 2024, as well as a new range-topping Spyder RS. We’re curious to see if there will be an all-electric version of this top gas model, which we said could be the finest roadster Porsche will ever build.
2025 Porsche 718 Boxster Pros and Cons
Pros
- Capable powertrains
- Great reflexes
- The charm of a convertible
Cons
- Final model year for gas Boxster
- Long second gear
- Loud cabin even with top up
2025 Porsche Taycan: What’s New
Porsche’s first electric vehicle lands its first midcycle refresh this year, but this is no run-of-the-mill facelift. The 2025 Taycan is a significantly improved EV, with new underpinnings that facilitate faster charging, improved brake regen, and around a 30-percent increase in range. The updated Porsche car is also expected to be quicker thanks to a more powerful and lighter rear motor.
A new push-to-pass function comes with the 2025 Taycan’s Sport Chrono package and delivers up to 94 extra hp for 10 seconds at a time. An air suspension is now standard, but there’s also a more advanced available ride height-adjusting Porsche Active Ride system. For the full beans, there is a new track-ready Turbo GT model said to make over 1,000 hp. Of course, it is absurdly quick.
The refreshed Taycan sports revised front fenders and fascia and updated high-definition active-matrix LED headlights. Turbo and Turbo S top models get their own front and rear fasciae and metallic-looking Turbonite badges and trim. Power-folding side mirrors are now standard, as are charge-port doors on both sides of the car.
Several tech upgrades come this year, too. There’s now an available front passenger display, and new standard equipment includes a heated steering wheel, ambient lighting, air-cooled dual-phone wireless charger, and a more deeply integrated version of Apple CarPlay. Blind-spot monitoring is also newly standard, and the Taycan’s standard driver assist control stalk is now mounted to the steering column. A digital cluster charging screen and updated standard Porsche Intelligent Range Manager make the charging process easier. Leather-free interior upholstery and standard brushed aluminum door sill protectors on the base model round out 2025 Taycan changes.
2025 Porsche Taycan Pros and Cons
Pros
- Improved charging and range
- Porsche says it’s quicker than before
- High-style exterior and cabin
- Cross Turismo wagon practicality
Cons
- No one-pedal driving
- Premium price tag
- Others offer better rear steering
2025 Porsche Panamera: What’s New
A redesigned Panamera arrived for 2024, and this year Porsche fleshes out the third-generation lineup with two additions: new GTS and Turbo S E-Hybrid models. Each car utilizes a 4.0-liter twin-turbo V-8 powertrain, but the latter plug-in hybrid trim also gets an integrated motor in its eight-speed automatic transmission, as well as a small battery.
Power for the new GTS is rated at 493 hp, 20 hp more than the outgoing version. This variant also features the new Panamera's standard two-valve, two-chamber suspension setup that can be adjusted to ride 10mm lower. A sport exhaust, Sport Chrono Package, Bose surround sound premium audio, black trim and darkened lighting features, and Sport pack are standard with the GTS.
The 2025 Turbo S E-Hybrid is the lineup’s top model by output, its hybrid powertrain combining for up to 771 hp. Like other E-Hybrids, it comes with Porsche's new high-tech one-chamber air suspension. New yellow or available green brake calipers can be included as well.
This year’s Panamera Turbo and Turbo S are also offered with a model-specific upgraded aero kit that includes carbon-fiber front air blades, side skirts, and a rear diffuser, with a front lip spoiler and a Gurney flap on the four-way rear spoiler. The kit, which commemorates the car’s record lap around the Nürburgring Nordschleife, rides on Michelin Pilot Sport Cup 2 performance tires and 21-inch wheels.
2025 Porsche Panamera Pros and Cons
Pros
- Multiple strong powertrains
- Superb craftsmanship
- Good handling
- Practical hatchback rear
Cons
- Every model is expensive
- Can feel like a wide car
- We miss the shooting brake version
2025 Porsche 911: What’s New
Like the Taycan, the current 992 generation of Porsche’s iconic rear-engine sports car undergoes a midcycle refresh for 2025. Changes to the 911 include trim-specific front fascia, new 16,000-pixel headlamps, and for the hybrid GTS, larger air vents with active aero shutters. Around back, there’s a restyled rear fascia with new decklid grille and updated light strip with Porsche lettering. Seven new wheel designs are available, including fresh staggered sets exclusively for this year’s GTS.
New turbos and charge cooler help the 911 Carrera base model gain 9 hp, for a total output of 388 hp, but the bigger news is the GTS’ electrically driven single-turbo T-Hybrid powertrain that’s good for 532 hp. GTS models also come with a strengthened eight-speed dual-clutch automatic, and since they are the hybrids of the lineup, included is an electric motor linked to the transmission and 1.9-kWh lithium-ion battery. The 2025 Carrera T coupe and convertible variants are now offered only with a six-speed manual transmission.
Additional mechanical updates include reconfigured drive mode customization and a handful of features distinct to GTS models. They come with standard rear-axle steering, a relocated 12-volt battery, and a lowered suspension with active body control and a front-end lift.
Porsche does away with the 911’s starter switch and installs a pushbutton in its place. The redesigned cabin also features a 12.6-inch curved digital instrument cluster with seven display views and cooled center console with wireless charging pad. Infotainment sources include standard Apple Music and Spotify, and Apple CarPlay can be displayed in the driver screen. Video streaming is optional. Lastly, this Porsche car is now standard with two seats, but a no-cost 2+2 option is available.
2025 Porsche 911 Pros and Cons
Pros
- Ageless design
- Powertrain lineup now includes a hybrid
- Fabulous driving dynamics
- Solid build quality
Cons
- Quite pricey
- Stiff sports car suspension
- Minimal standard driver assist tech
2026 Porsche Cayman EV/Boxster EV: Small Sports Cars Electrified
We have high hopes for Porsche’s next generation of small, mid-engine driver’s cars. The next Boxster and Cayman will run on electricity alone after decades of internal combustion power, and we expect they will arrive for the 2026 model year.
The next 718s (if that’s indeed what they’re called) will be built on the same Zuffenhausen assembly line as the 911 and will share some parts with it, but the two athletic models will sit on different platforms. Boxster and Cayman models come on a new sports car platform that should facilitate high fast-charging rates and accommodate dual-motor AWD, which would be a first for both models. Pricing should be somewhere in the $80,000 to $85,000 range, starting some $6,000 above the outgoing base gas trim.
2025 Porsche Cars:
- 2025 Porsche 718 Cayman: Unchanged
- 2025 Porsche 718 Boxster: Unchanged
- 2025 Porsche Taycan: Significant update
- 2025 Porsche Panamera: Minor update
- 2025 Porsche 911: Significant update
- 2026 Porsche Cayman Electric: All-new model
- 2026 Porsche Boxster Electric: All-new model
My dad was a do-it-yourselfer, which is where my interest in cars began. To save money, he used to service his own vehicles, and I often got sent to the garage to hold a flashlight or fetch a tool for him while he was on his back under a car. Those formative experiences activated and fostered a curiosity in Japanese automobiles because that’s all my Mexican immigrant folks owned then. For as far back as I can remember, my family always had Hondas and Toyotas. There was a Mazda and a Subaru in there, too, a Datsun as well. My dad loved their fuel efficiency and build quality, so that’s how he spent and still chooses to spend his vehicle budget. Then, like a lot of young men in Southern California, fast modified cars entered the picture in my late teens and early 20s. Back then my best bud and I occasionally got into inadvisable high-speed shenanigans in his Honda. Coincidentally, that same dear friend got me my first job in publishing, where I wrote and copy edited for action sports lifestyle magazines. It was my first “real job” post college, and it gave me the experience to move just a couple years later to Auto Sound & Security magazine, my first gig in the car enthusiast space. From there, I was extremely fortunate to land staff positions at some highly regarded tuner media brands: Honda Tuning, UrbanRacer.com, and Super Street. I see myself as a Honda guy, and that’s mostly what I’ve owned, though not that many—I’ve had one each Civic, Accord, and, currently, an Acura RSX Type S. I also had a fourth-gen Toyota pickup when I met my wife, with its bulletproof single-cam 22R inline-four, way before the brand started calling its trucks Tacoma and Tundra. I’m seriously in lust with the motorsport of drifting, partly because it reminds me of my boarding and BMX days, partly because it’s uncorked vehicle performance, and partly because it has Japanese roots. I’ve never been much of a car modifier, but my DC5 is lowered, has a few bolt-ons, and the ECU is re-flashed. I love being behind the wheel of most vehicles, whether that’s road tripping or circuit flogging, although a lifetime exposed to traffic in the greater L.A. area has dulled that passion some. And unlike my dear ol’ dad, I am not a DIYer, because frankly I break everything I touch.
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