After a seven year long production run, the first generation Panamera will be getting a successor, which is going to be revealed worldwide on June 28th. Porsche has kicked of the reveal campaign by releasing a teaser video and a shot of the rear taillights.
What is apparent about the new Panamera, Porsche has worked hard at fixing what was the older Panamera’s Achilles Heel – styling-wise that is – the rather dumpy and bulbous section aft of the b-pillars. To fix that, they have lowered the roof height by 15mm, with a more sharply raked rear windscreen which joins a 911-esque pair of tail lights. It looks tauter and seems to have lost the excess flab, but not at the cost of rear space, since the new Panamera is based on a longer wheelbase than the older car. From the number of spy shots and pictures of the pre-production cars, the other radical design change is the head light design, with curving LED elements and a rather ‘funky’ design of the main light elements. Porsche has been tight lipped on the interiors, but from those in the know, it is said to have dispensed with the huge button adorned centre console, shifting most of the functions to a 12.3 inch touchscreen display. There is still an analog tachometer in the centre of the instrument console, but rest of the dials have been replaced by digital displays.
The new Panamera is going to be based on a new modular platform, the MSB platform, to be shared by other Volkswagen group cars. The platform has been designed in such a way so that it csn support different powertrain architectures like internal combustion engines, hybrids or full electric. The new Panamera also will be sold only as an all wheel drive model and will dispense with naturally aspirated engines from the lineup. At launch, there will be the Panamera 4S with a 3.0-litre twin-turbocharged V6 producing around 440bhp and the Turbo with 550bhp 4.0-litre V8. A diesel option will also be available at launch, but not with the best selling 3.0-litre engine but with a more powerful 4.0-litre V8. A single turbo 3.0-litre V6 petrol and a 3.0-litre V6 diesel will launched later. The default gearbox option will be an eight-speed dual clutch unit by ZF, signalling the end of the manual box. Considering that one can probably note down the number of manual Panameras Porsche had managed to sell on a single sheet of paper, nobody will be shedding tears for the loss of the manual gearbox option. Also available as an option is the four wheel steering system, which will make its debut in the Panamera range.
Porsche has never had troubling selling every Panamera they could make, and the new generation Panamera, with its sporty and sharper lines, looks like its going to continue the sales record. However, while Porsche is busying the new Panamera for launch, interestingly the wagon version of the Panamera is still undergoing testing in different parts of the world and has been confirmed for production. The Porsche Sport Turismo concept, reborn?
