First official look: Porsche parades Panamera

PORSCHE has finally lifted the lid on the all-new Panamera in its entirety, four months ahead of its official global public debut at the Geneva motor show in March and almost a year before it goes on sale in Australia, in October 2009.

We saw the Panamera’s evolutionary new front-end design, including a slightly longer bonnet that from launch will conceal V6 and V8 petrol engines, in first official pictures in September, when Porsche also revealed video of its all-new grand tourer via a dedicated new online micro-site for the first time.

Now, however, the exterior of the hallowed German sports car maker’s fourth model line and first four-door sedan has been presented in all its glory, revealing what resembles a stretched version of the 911 coupe, complete with four doors, an extended roofline and a large rear tailgate that actually makes it more two-box hatchback than three-box sedan.

We are yet to see official images of the all-new Porsche flagship’s four-seat interior, however, although Porsche says the backrests of the two individual rear bucket seats fold forward to increase luggage space. Porsche says the Panamera’s rear pews will accommodate 190cm-tall adults in comfort.

Officially, the Panamera will join the volume-selling Cayenne SUV, Boxster convertible/Cayman coupe twins and the 911 on sale in Australia early in the fourth quarter of 2009 as part of an almost simultaneous global rollout.

Porsche has confirmed the Panamera measures 4970mm long overall, making it longer than a Ford Falcon and about half a metre longer than the 911. At just 1418mm high, it is relatively low-slung for a four-door but still around 130mm taller than the 911.

Spanning a massive 1931mm wide, however, the Panamera is also more than 80mm wider than even the wide-bodied all-wheel drive versions of the 911, including the 911 Turbo and GT2.

Also confirmed is an engine range that from launch will open with a 220kW petrol V6 and extend to naturally-aspirated and twin-turbocharged versions of the Cayenne’s direct-injection 4.8-litre petrol V8, the latter offering no power increase over its application in the SUV at 368kW.

As expected, Porsche’s trademark boxer flat-six engines, in either atmo for force-fed guises, will not be available in the Panamera, which is nonetheless slated to receive the two-mode petrol-electric hybrid drivetrain that will debut in the redesigned Cayenne SUV in 2010. There is no mention of the rumoured V10 version.

Unlike the Cayenne, however, Panamera V6 and V8 transmission choices will include a six-speed manual and Porsche’s new seven-speed Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK) double-clutch automated manual.

As expected, Porsche has also confirmed the rear-drive Panamera will additionally be available with the all-wheel drive hardware that will come as standard on the V8-powered Turbo flagship. The company says full transmission and engine details, including for the hybrid version, will be revealed in the first half of next year.

As previously reported, Porsche has an annual sales target of 20,000 Panameras – all of which will be assembled at its Leipzig plant in Germany, where a new 22,000 square-metre production facility and logistics centre remain under construction, using engines built at its main plant in Zuffenhausen, Stuttgart and painted bodyshells from Volkswagen’s Hanover plant. Porsche says 70 per cent of the Panamera’s components will be produced in Germany.

Having just launched its re-engined 997-series 911 range locally, Porsche Cars Australia (PCA) will also launch similarly facelifted version of its Boxster and Cayman models in 2009.

PCA’s national dealer network, which now comprises 13 retail outlets including the newly factory-owned Porsche Centre Sydney South that together with Porsche Centre Melbourne accounts for 40 per cent of its Australian sales, will invest in expanded showroom space to cater for the Panamera and the new customers it expects to attract to the Porsche brand.

Porsche admits the Panamera will cannibalise some sales from its 911 and Cayenne models, and expects a modest overall sales increase as a result.

The Panamera will compete directly with four-door “coupes” like the popular Mercedes-Benz CLS and Maserati Quattroporte, plus Aston Martin’s upcoming Rapide, but a revival of a similar concept from BMW in the shape of a born-again 8 Series based on the CS Concept will not be forthcoming.

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First look: Porsche presents Panamera