Porsche is considering merging the Taycan and Panamera into a single, unified model line with petrol, plug-in hybrid and fully electric variants.

The proposals are part of broader cost-cutting measures from new Porsche CEO Michael Leiters following a downturn in global sales and huge costs associated with former CEO Oliver Blume's decision last year to scale back the firm's electrification plans.

The reining in of development spending - which this unification would work towards - is understood to be a key focus for Leiters.

The combustion-engined Panamera and electric Taycan are both performance saloons that sit alongside each other in Porsche's line-up, although they are underpinned by different platforms and have substantially different bodystyles.

The Panamera is based on Porsche's MSB platform, which it shares with the Bentley Continental GT. This architecture is due to be replaced by the newer PPC when a third-generation Panamera arrives later this decade.

The Taycan, meanwhile, sits on the J1 platform shared with the Audi E-tron GT and its successor was expected to migrate to the delayed SSP Sport architecture.

With the cost of developing dedicated electric models weighing increasingly on profitability, Porsche is reassessing the long-term viability of running the Panamera and Taycan as entirely separate engineering programmes. Sources have suggested it is exploring greater parts sharing and the possibility of a common identity, even if successor versions continue to use different platforms.

Porsche already operates parallel architectures under a single model name. The combustion Macan continues to be sold alongside the electric Macan in several markets, despite the two being based on different platforms. The same approach has been adopted with the Cayenne. It is not yet known if the two performance saloons would take the Panamera or Taycan name.

Indeed, the two models are close in footprint, with wheelbases of 2950mm and 2900mm respectively. These are not trivial differences, but insiders have suggested that it is not a deal-breaker if a replacement model - one supporting two different platforms- is engineered from the outset with sufficient engineering flexibility.

The Panamera's availability in extended-wheelbase form is also seen as a potential route for introducing two wheelbase options for a Taycan replacement.

From a financial perspective, the consolidation of the Panamera and Taycan models lines is hard to ignore. Porsche has already written down €1.8 billion (roughly £1.6bn) related to delayed platform development and has warned of reduced profitability as it reworks its original electric model strategy.

Merging the Panamera and Taycan into a single model line could potentially deliver savings across multiple departments while avoiding a situation where the brand has to decide to axe one due to costs.

How such a model might be styled remains unclear, although Porsche's current Cayenne range, where both ICE and EV variants feature distinct exterior designs, offers a potential blueprint.