Porsche Panamera: the hype continues

It certainly does. There's been plenty of speculation about Porsche's forthcoming model, designed to bridge the gap between its top-end sports cars and SUVs. Porsche currently holds the record for making the most cash per car, and combined with the success of the Cayenne with the school-run crowd, the company is rolling in it.

So now seems like a good time for a spot of product development and these shots of the Panamera undergoing testing in Germany prove that Porsche is doing just that.

When's the Panamera expected in the UK ?

It's not due to be unveiled until 2009, but prototypes are routinely spotted out and about even though it's well over two years until launch.

UK buyers will have to hold their breath even longer as the Panamera isn't expected to make its way to Britain until early 2010. They will have to set aside at least £54,000 for the entry-level V6 model, prices climbing all the way up to £84,000 for the range-crowning Turbo.

A Porsche saloon. I guess it's going to be quick ?

Porsche isn't holding back on the Panamera range. The first wave to go on sale will be fitted with the 4.8-litre V8 from the Cayenne and pack a hearty 400bhp, which is a pretty meaty starting point for its first saloon. Expect 0-60mph times in the region of 4.5 seconds and a 180mph top speed. However, the turbo will be serious business; equipped with 520bhp and 516lb ft of torque, it'll be knocking on the M5's door and arguing over the hottest saloon trophy.

That's not all though. Porsche has one or two unusual aces up its sleeve. In 2011 not only should we see a four-wheel-drive version, but also a softer, eco-friendly hybrid using the same technology that's destined for the Cayenne. Volkswagen will provide the 300bhp V6 which will be reworked with an electric motor, so it can run in zero-emissions mode around town - or pump out an extra 100bhp for short bursts when working with the V6 for urgent acceleration. Clever stuff.

Any other new innovations ?

Buyers will be able to choose from a regular six-speed manual box, or shell out a few extra quid and upgrade to a racy seven-speed twin-clutch arrangement related to VW's DSG transmission.

Porsche is being pretty modest with the sales figures; don't expect the Panamera to usurp the Mercedes S-class and BMW 7-series dominating the luxury car sector. It only expects to shift around 20,000 units a year to begin with, but that sounds pretty cautious to us.

Words: Jack Carfrae

Porsche Panamera: More Info
Text by Tim Hagen
Copyright by Lehmann Photo-Syndication
April 23, 2007

Car manufacturers, who traditionally make a living from producing middle class four seaters and saloons favour a most motivating task for designers and engineers: “Take the components from our family car and please make a pretty coupe or a nice sports car out of it.” That is – of course – a dream. Now to the nightmare, the opposite case: “Take our sports car and please make a nice family car out of it”.
Inside Porsche, dream and nightmare have been living quite close together repeatedly over the years. In the beginning was the dream which fascinated the designers already back in 1938. The very first prototypes of the VW-Beetle were hardly out, when already three racing coupes were developed on the Beetle’s chassis to participate in the long distance race Berlin-Rome.

Ten years and another World War later, Ferry Porsche introduced the first sports car named Porsche. That was the dream. The original 356 was equally based on the VW-Beetle, from which of course it came a long way due to its decades long evolution. However, like with any evolutionary development, Porsche’s ways lead into a dead end quite often. And this preferably with prototypes and single pieces featuring four seats or even four doors.

Already in 1952 the Porsche team created a four-seater 356 with an elongated wheelbase as an answer to the family-friendly Porsche-customers of the last century. Yet, the concept was dumped. In the following years, instead of Porsche’s own engineers, several styling companies busied themselves creating various Porsche four-seaters. Wendler in Reutlingen in Germany and Beutler in Switzerland came up with special models, but the problem remained always the same: the Porsche-typical lines and proportions ran out of focus, nothing really matched anymore.

In 1960 Butzi Porsche designed the first concepts of the successor to the 356. They had a glass dome with roundabout view and more headroom for the two rear passengers. But finally the typical Porsche-fastback became the winner for the 911, much to the relief of all classic-Porsche fans worldwide. In 1969 Pininfarina introduced an elongated 911 four-seater – a true nightmare technically as well as from its looks. The vehicle’s rear end tended to sway like a metro city bus and the proportions were anything but attractive. Nowadays this car is privately owned.

Upon his 75th birthday Ferry Porsche received a very spectacular present from his crew: a four-seater 928 sports wagon. Up to now this car was considered the only well-made and appropriate four-seater by Porsche, however, nobody ever thought of it as a production model since the image of the 928 model range already had problems due to a wrong marketing strategy. In 1988 Porsche came up with the 989, a potential successor to the 928 with four doors. It did in fact include styling elements from the 911, but all in all looked just too stretched and sort of mangled and never went into production either.

Now, almost twenty years later, the engineers at Porsche’s development center in Weißach near Zuffenhausen are finally working on the four door Porsche Panamera. The car has come to an advanced stage of development, with prototypes sighted and photographed during tests in many places of the world. And as it seems, some right clues have been taken from the experience with its less lucky predecessors. The Panamera – designed by Porsche’s chief designer Michael Mauer - does not look like a stretched 911 but rather like a low levelled Cayenne. The space and off-road model range Cayenne has succeeded in achieving its acceptance by the public in a radical way. And that is why the Panamera will no longer be looked at as a faux-pas of the sports car maker Porsche, but rather as an independent Grand Touring car of the extra class. Some detours do take a little longer sometimes.

Details Panamera:
Code name: G 1
Porsche’s first front engined, rear drive four door sedan
4x4 as an option
Engine: 4,8 ltr 4 V p. cyl., V 8
400 HP – Top of the line Panamera Turbo 520 HP
Top speed 180 mph
Release: 2010
Hybrid version planned for 2011.
Production begins 08/ 2009 in Porsche’s Leipzig plant
20.000 units per year
35% for the US market
Price: between Eur 80.000 and Eur 125.000

Porsche Panamera: First Porsche with a wing !

We today got the news that the Porsche Panamera will be the first Porsche with a wing, citing news that the huge wing seen on the spy shots might actually stay (sort of)! This would be a world premiere.

It's said that Porsche is working on a multi-step wing. The rear wing will be visible even in parking position, but will go up at 100 km/h and even further at 180 km/h.