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Porsche Panamera
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The Porsche Panamera is a four-door, four-seat luxury sedan, set to be launched in 2009. It will be front-engined and rear wheel drive, with four-wheel drive available on top versions.
aunch, the Panamera will have three engine choices - a 3.6 L V6 found in the 2008 facelifted Cayenne with in the base Panamera, a 4.8 L V8 with in the Panamera S and Panamera 4S, and a turbocharged 4.8 L V8 with approximately in the Panamera Turbo.
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Encyclopedia
The Porsche Panamera is a four-door, four-seat luxury sedan, set to be launched in 2009. It will be front-engined and rear wheel drive, with four-wheel drive available on top versions.
Specifications
At launch, the Panamera will have three engine choices - a 3.6 L V6 found in the 2008 facelifted Cayenne with in the base Panamera, a 4.8 L V8 with in the Panamera S and Panamera 4S, and a turbocharged 4.8 L V8 with approximately in the Panamera Turbo. There is even a hybrid version in the pipeline. Rumors suggest that the V-10 engine from Porsche's limited-run Carrera GT supercar may be offered as well, although this is still extremely unlikely given the expense of manufacturing the engine and that Porsche does not currently have a facility capable of producing a suitable number of the V-10 engines per year. A rumor is also around that the V-12 diesel from the Audi Q7 could make it into the Panamera.
Production
The final assembly of the vehicles will take place in Leipzig. Engines will be assembled in Stuttgart, and the car's painted body will come from the Volkswagen facility in Hannover.
The Panamera is generally considered to be the long-awaited fruit of their 989 concept from the late 1980s; some argue that it also presents itself as a successor to the 2-doored 928, but there may be plans to develop a new 928 too. It will be marketed as a direct competitor to automobiles such as the Mercedes-Benz CLS63 AMG, Aston Martin Rapide, Lamborghini Estoque and Maserati Quattroporte and (to a lesser degree) a less expensive alternative to vehicles such as the Bentley Continental GT and Ferrari 612 Scaglietti. It is the first V8-engined sports car built by Porsche since 1995, when the 928 was discontinued and will be produced in the new plant at Leipzig alongside the Cayenne. The vehicle has been caught testing at the Nürburgring and the original sketches are a little more sleek than the taped up model spied testing.
Artist renderings of the car already distributed by Porsche show a low-slung, four-door sports car with narrow side windows and flowing lines. However spy shots of the Porsche Panamera testing at the Nürburgring show a more blunt car than the artists renderings. Recent artist impressions paint a car with a very similar front to the 911 and Boxster.
At a topping out ceremony at the Leipzig Production Plant, Porsche announced the expansion of their Leipzig plant to include a Panamera production facility. The new facility will measure 25,000 square meters, plus a logistics center with an area of 23,500 square meters. The exterior of the assembly building will be ready by September 2007 making way for the installation of the assembly equipment for the new model series. Porsche will also unveil its second generation hybrid powertrain for the Cayenne and Panamera families around this time. 2008 will see the first assembly of the Panamera line.
Production is to start in April 2009, one month after its debut in the Shanghai Motor Show in China. Porsche will keep production rate at around 20,000 cars per year.
Etymology
The Panamera's name is derived, like the Porsche Carrera line, from the Carrera Panamericana race. Earlier prototypes of four-door sedans such as the 1991 Porsche 989 prototype or the even earlier 4-door 911 based prototype, never went into production.
Publicity
On the April 20, 2007, a spy video of the Porsche Panamera became available on the Internet.
In September 2008, Porsche released the first teaser image for the Panamera. In early October 2008, an undisguised Panamera was captured on film in Seoul, South Korea.
In November 2008, The first official image of the Panamera was leaked.
On November 28, 2008, Porsche sent a mailer containing two photos of the Panamera which were labelled as "the first official images of the Porsche Panamera" with an invitation to have online access to via .
The 30th November 2008 edition of Top Gear featured a look at the Panamera in its news section, with the three presenters critically comparing its looks to those of the Austin Maxi.
On the 2009 calendar, the Panamera turbo can be seen on the September page.
Car Magazine called the Panamera an "abomination of automotive design".
External links
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- - LeftLaneNews.com
- Performance testing for the Panamera has also been carried out at the famous Nordschleife circuit in Germany. Spy shot's of the test car can be seen at along with some colourful first impression comparisons.
- - AUSmotive.com
- - "Roadfly.com"
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- - Autoevolution.com
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