Pana-vision

Years of spy photos culminate in revelation - the Porsche Panamera is here!

You really have to feel sorry for Porsche. For the last two years, media outlets from around the world have been furiously clicking away at tarpaulin-clad Porsche Panamera mules on streets in Europe, the Nurburgring and even chilly Arjeplog in Sweden.

Despite all that hullabaloo, Aston Martin delivered the first salvo by previewing the Rapide four-door concept at Detroit last year, and then Lamborghini followed it up with the Estoque at Paris in September this year. But Porsche has had the last laugh. What you see here is not a concept, but the production version of its much-awaited four-door.

The Panamera isn’t Porsche’s first attempt at one. In 1989, they did try their hand with the 989 concept, but with the economy badly tanking and Porsche’s own future in jeopardy, it never went beyond a design study. But Porsche never closed the chapter forever and in 2005 they announced the Panamera. At first sight, the new Panamera does retain Porsche family traits, but there are some traces of inspiration from others.

The pinch lines on the bonnet resemble the Corvette Z06, the greenhouse, especially around the C-pillar has Maserati influence and there’s even some Audi-like treatment around the indicators. The rump does resemble a raised 911 and, on the whole, it doesn’t look as controversial as it is assumed to be. It doesn’t raise your hair.

So it doesn’t have the traditional three-box look, but like the Citroen C6 helps liberate more space on the inside. Each of the four seats on the inside are aimed at giving you that “pilot” feeling, as the press release states. This is pretty much in line with what we saw with the Aston Martin and Lambo concepts. No pictures of the interiors are yet available, but from what we know it has a unique gear lever/button and the traditional Porsche quality bits.

Porsche, like Lamborghini, will release the car with a range of engines and variants. A 300 bhp base petrol and the 3.0TDI diesel from the VW group will form the bottom end of the range, moving up to a 4.8-litre naturally aspirated 400 bhp S version and a full-blown twin-turbo version producing 500 bhp. Porsche will offer its range of PDK and manual gearboxes, so it will drive and perform like a Porsche should. Porsche will build 22,000 units each year and India will receive its first units, like the rest of the world, in summer next year. Prices will start somewhere in the region of Rs 80 lakh and go up to Rs 1.2 crore or more, at current estimates.