Porsche released today the first official images and technical details of the new Porsche Panamera. The dimensions of the Porsche Panamera are 1931 millimeters wide, 1418 millimeters in height and 4970 millimeters in length. The Porsche Panamera will be equipped with either V6 engines or V8 power units with outputs between 300 hp and 500 bhp. Some of the engine on the Porsche Panamera will also be turbocharged. The gearbox options offered by the Porsche Panamera include a manual 6-speed gearbox or the new PDK seven-speed Double-Clutch Gearbox. the manufacturer also announced they will market a hybrid drive version of the Porsche Panamera.
The Porsche Panamera price has not been announced yet but the company announced it will start marketing the new model worldwide starting from spring 2009.
Porsche Press Release:
Roughly nine months before the actual market launch, Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, Stuttgart, has released the first official photos of the Porsche Panamera in its final look. In its design, profile and silhouette, Porsche’s unique four-seater stands out clearly as a new member of the Porsche family. Conceived and designed as a four-door grand touring sports car, the Panamera combines numerous talents in typical Porsche style: sporting driving dynamics, a generous and
variable interior, and the supreme driving comfort of a Gran Turismo. Joining the 911, Boxster and Cayman sports cars as well as the sporty SUV Cayenne, the Porsche Panamera is Porsche’s fourth model series.
The designers of the Panamera have succeeded in positioning this unique car as a brand-new and truly different model while nevertheless retaining the looks of a typical Porsche. Through its proportions alone, the Porsche Panamera stands out clearly in its market segment: measuring 1931 millimeters or 76.0 inches in width, the Panamera is wider, and measuring 1418
millimeters or 55.8 inches in height, lower than comparable four-door models. The unmistakable, sleek GT silhouette is created by the car’s overall length of 4970 millimeters or 195.7 inches and short, sporting overhangs front and rear. In its styling and details, the Porsche Panamera follows the design philosophy refined over decades on the 911 and successfully implemented also on the Boxster, Cayman and Cayenne.
Through its design language alone, the Panamera will establish a new segment versus the
competition. The symbiosis of sports car DNA derived from the looks of a coupe, the unique interpretation of the classical saloon body and the benefits of a variable space concept give the new Porsche its truly unmistakable appearance. As an example, the Porsche Panamera comes with highly individual, strongly contoured air intakes instead of a conventional radiator grille. Striking wheel arches and the long and sleek engine compartment lid create that typical 911 “landscape” at the front end of the car the Porsche customer has appreciated for no less than 45 years, with the distinctly contoured wings as flanks bordering on the flat front lid. The V-shaped seams along the engine compartment lid and the rear window tapering out like an arrow to the rear convey the features characteristic of a
sports car to the new, highly individual Panamera class. The striking, muscular shoulders over the rear wheels, the dynamic sweep of the coupe-like roofline, and the visible tailpipes again bear out all the DNA so typical of a thoroughbred Porsche.
The elegant roof arch extends stylishly over the generous interior, simply begging the beholder to get inside. Like all Porsche models, the Porsche Panamera is oriented in every respect to the needs and wishes of the driver. But now, thanks to the new concept of space and the sporting architecture of the interior, the car’s occupants are also able to experience this special “pilot feeling” on all four seats. All four occupants enjoy supreme ergonomic comfort on both the front seats and the two firmly contoured single seats at the rear. The luggage compartment easily takes up all the passengers’ luggage. The variable space concept with its folding rear seat backrests enables the driver and passengers to adjust the luggage space individually to their personal requirements. And last but not least, the coupe tailgate in the sporting rear end combines superior suitability for daily use with stylish elegance.
Porsche has developed superior and up-to-date power units for the Panamera again reflecting all the qualities typical of the brand – the V-engines within the engine compartment come with six and eight cylinders and range in power from 300 to 500 bhp. Some of the engines use turbocharger technology, Direct Fuel Injection making them both fuel-efficient and powerful all in one. The flow of power to the wheels goes either through a manual six-speed gearbox or the new seven-speed Double-Clutch Gearbox, the so called Porsche-Doppelkupplung (PDK).
In addition to sporting rear-wheel drive, the top version of the Porsche Panamera comes with even more sophisticated all-wheel drive, which is also available for the other versions as an option. As a further highlight, Porsche is preparing a particularly fuel-efficient version of the Panamera with hybrid drive. Further details on the engines, transmissions, performance, prices and equipment will be disclosed next spring.
The Porsche Panamera will be built at Porsche’s Leipzig Plant, where a production hall measuring some 22,000 square meters or almost 237,000 square feet and a logistics center are currently under construction. While the engines featured in the Porsche Panamera are built at Porsche’s Main 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 some 20,000 units. Porsche is once again cooperating largely with German suppliers in the production of the Porsche Panamera, with some 70 per cent of the car’s overall value being created domestically. Hence, the Panamera is most definitely a car “Made in Germany”.
The Panamera will be making its world debut in spring 2009 and the first models will be at dealers worldwide in late summer of next year.
