Third-gen Panamera debuts in November

A NEW generation Porsche Panamera large luxury sedan, with a greater emphasis on electrified powertrains, is just around the corner having recently undergone a final validation program in Spain ahead of its official public debut in November.

Coming out of Barcelona, the Porsche test drive cavalcade focused on powertrain performance in particular the new Porsche Doppelkupplung (PDK) dual-clutch transmission and the newly developed chassis with active damper control. 

The German sportscar specialist said in a statement that its engineers were checking the final details of the new generation model in and around the Spanish capital before its premiere in Dubai at the Icons of Porsche Festival on November 24, when pricing, specifications and delivery timing for Australia will be announced.

The big coupe-style sports sedan first appeared at Shanghai Auto Show in 2009, code-named the 970 series, and had various updates before the much more stylish, less hunch-backed 971 series lobbed in 2016.

From mildly camouflaged images of the third-generation car, the new model appears to retain a distinctive Panamera appearance.

Prior to final tweaks in Europe, test procedures for the new Panamera took prototypes across four continents, the big fastback visiting the United States for assessment of drivetrain performance at high altitudes and low oxygen levels, as well as verifying the performance of engine cooling system and air-conditioning systems in extreme heat.

Later, in Scandinavia, the Panamera was driven at very low temperatures and in South Africa, it was driven in “difficult” road conditions before finally arriving in Asia to check its performance in high air humidity combined with hours of megacity stop-and-go traffic.

Panamera development manager Marcel Hönemann said: “We test every new car intensively in order to meet our demands, and of course those of our customers all over the world.

“The standard we set is always the development targets defined in the specifications. The new Panamera must excel here and now, in particular in terms of performance, comfort and acoustics.”

Underpinning the new model and in line with parent company VW Group’s electrification aspirations, the new Panamera range is hybrid-focused, featuring an upgraded range of powerplants with state-of-the-art “sustainable” drivetrains and efficiency.

The current 971 Panamera already offers three E-Hybrid variants and the 972 gains a fourth plug-in hybrid variant, which Porsche says its “in response to the enormous demand from our customers”.

In some countries, the proportion of E-Hybrids sold in the Panamera line-up is almost 100 per cent, which has guided planning for the 972 model.

As head of the Panamera product line, Thomas Friemuth described the fourth Panamera PHEV as “a high-performance model that fits perfectly into the versatile line-up”.

“We are increasing the electrical performance of the Panamera in all E-Hybrid models with regard to driving dynamics and the important considerations of electric range and charging speed,” said Dr Friemuth.

“During our tests, we’re driving up to 70 per cent further purely on electric power than we did in the previous model.”

In terms of powertrain tech, the basis of all Panamera E-Hybrid models is a new, more powerful electric motor that is now completely integrated in the transmission housing of the redesigned dual-clutch transmission.

Porsche says it offers higher drivetrain and recuperation performance values than its predecessor at a lower weight. Electric power comes from a high voltage battery with a significantly higher capacity of 25.9 kWh while an on-board 11kW AC charger shortens the recharging time despite the increased energy content.

Revisions to the Panamera’s internal combustion engines boost efficiency and performance and all drivetrains in the new model line-up are calibrated for future emission standards.

In addition to comprehensively revising the engines, Porsche engineers reworked chassis elements, in particular the optional active damper control.

Porsche engineers reported after testing “in the field” that the active chassis sets new standards that could be felt on every meter of the test drives, even on the cobblestones in the Barcelona harbour district.

They reported it is highly dynamic and agile on the winding country roads outside the city. 

Dr Friemuth claimed the new Panamera has an incomparably wide range owing to a semi-active chassis with new two-valve shock absorbers as standard, which can regulate the compression and rebound stages independently of each other.

This is said to significantly expand the range between comfortable and high-performance chassis tuning in the new standard chassis.