UK government’s OLEV (Office for Low Emission Vehicles) has officially recognized the new Porsche Panamera SE-Hybrid as an ULEV (Ultra-Low Emission Vehicles), which means the big executive saloon is now eligible 25% grant towards the cost of the car, up to a maximum of £5,000. Not bad, seeing as the car costs a whopping £88,967.

To be fair though, the Porsche is worth every penny it costs. Here’s a large, luxurious, sporty, practical and well-built German gran turismo saloon car that goes from 0 to 60 in 5.5 seconds, achieves a top speed of 167 mph, and yet returns 91 mpg, with CO2 emissions no more than 71 g/km.

Porsche Panamera SE-Hybrid owes its performance to a sophisticated hybrid system consisting of a 3.0-litre V6 engine, an electric motor, and a newly-developed lithium-ion battery. Total output of the system is 416 horsepower and 590 Nm of torque. The system used in the Panamera hybrid is similar to that of the Porsche 918 hyper car.

The electric motor alone is capable of generating 95 hp (70 kW), which is enough to give the car a top speed of 84 mph in pure electric mode. The parallel full hybrid concept developed by Porsche also offers ‘coasting’ at higher speeds, which refers to free coasting with the internal combustion engine shut off and generating electricity by energy recovery. The car uses the seven-speed Porsche Doppelkupplung PDK dual-clutch transmission.