Porsche has officially released images of its new four-seater Panamera, a five-door car that will be the fourth model in its range. Sounds confusing, but the reality is this is a 911-lookalike for the family man - a car that Porsche seems to have talked about for decades. If the looks were not controversial enough the fact that Porsche has confirmed confirmed a hybrid version is being developed should be enough to upset the purists.
It is being called a four-door, but in fact it has a hatch like boot and folding rear seats for added versatility. Inside there are four individual seats and although it is a completely different model, Porsche is happy to admit that it carries the DNA from the rest of the range.
This means that you get 911-style lights and bonnet, and rear lights reminiscent of the Boxster and Cayman. It has an overall length of 4970mm, and is 1931mm wide and 1418mm high. The coupe silhouette is reminiscent of the popular Mercedes CLS, which effectively kick-started this niche, and the forthecoming Aston Rapide.
The Panamera will be offered with six and eight cylinder engines, ranging in power from 300 to 500bhp, and some of the units will use a turbocharger. There is also a chance that the car could use the turbocharged 3.0-litre V6 diesel engine recently announced for the Cayenne SUV. The flow of power to the wheels goes either through a manual six-speed gearbox or the Porsche seven-speed Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK), or double-clutch gearbox. The grand tourer will be offerted in both two and four-wheel drive.
Further details on the engines, transmissions, performance, prices and equipment will be disclosed in the spring 2009. The Porsche Panamera will be built at the company’s Leipzig Plant, where a production hall measuring 22,000 sq m (almost 237,000 sq ft) and a logistics centre are currently under construction.
While the engines featured in the Panamera are built at the Main Porsche Plant in Zuffenhausen, the painted bodyshells will be supplied by the Volkswagen Plant in Hanover. The Leipzig Plant will then assemble the Panamera for final delivery, with an annual sales target of 20,000.
Porsche is once again cooperating largely with German suppliers in the production of the Panamera, with 70 per cent of the car’s overall value being created domestically. The new four-door Porsche Panamera gran turismo will be making its world debut in spring 2009, and the first models will be arriving in Porsche Centres worldwide from late summer next year.