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Porsche Panamera: Concept version of automaker's fourth model line due
this fall
GREG KABLE
Posted Date: 3/15/05
Porsche's anticipated fourth model line has a name: Panamera.
Registered by Porsche at the same time as the Cayman moniker it is
applying to the upcoming Boxster-based coupe, the new name is expected
to grace a concept version of the car, which insiders describe as a
combination of coupe and sedan, at the Frankfurt motor show in
September.

Due out in 2008, the Panamera has been conceived as successor to the
928. Designed with space for four adults, it is also tipped to come
clothed in a four-door body in a move that will pitch it into direct
competition with cars like the Mercedes-Benz CLS and Maserati
Quattroporte.

Secrecy surrounds the mechanical basis for the new car, though the
Stuttgart rumor mill suggests Porsche chairman Wendelin Wiedeking has
forged links with Volkswagen on a new rear-wheel-drive platform program
in a move similar to that undertaken with the Cayenne and Touareg.
Volkswagen chairman Bernd Pischetsrieder is interested in adding a new
rear-wheel-drive model to the Volkswagen lineup between the Passat and
Phaeton, and after the recent breakdown in talks with Maserati, it
seems additional cooperation with Porsche may be in the cards.

Power for the new car is set to come from the same 4.5-liter V8 engines
as those offered on the Cayenne. They include a naturally aspirated
version with 340 hp and a turbo­charged unit with 450 hp. An even more
powerful model with more than 500 hp is also in the pipeline. Up to
20,000 examples of the Panamera are expected to roll annually from
Porsche's Leipzig factory in Germany, where it will be produced
alongside the Cayenne.