New car news

06 January 2009 - 13:00

Whether gorgeous or ghastly, it’s coming

Over-fertile Porsche fanatics, mark this date in your diary: April 19. That’s the date that the Panamera officially launches – at the Shanghai Auto Show, of all places.

The choice of location might give you some hint about the markets that Porsche is targetting with the four-door four-seater, which should reach the road some time in late summer.

At first, it’ll only be available with the choice of two direct-injection V8 engines, in naturally-aspirated and twin-turbo flavour, with the latter developing around 372kW – more than enough for a sub-five second 0-100km/h time, we’d imagine.

Down the line, Porsche will put out six-cylinder engines – not the traditional boxer sixes but instead V6 units, with the entry level engine putting out 223kW. Transmission will be courtesy of either a six-speed manual or Porsche’s double-clutch PSK gearbox, with both rear-wheel and all-wheel drive configurations in use. But what engine choice, if any, we get in Australia remains to be seen.

Expect all of Porsche’s clever traction control and damper options, too, though there’s no word on a stripped-out, slick-tyred GT3 version. Which is probably for the best.

As for the looks – well, it looks like a Porsche, doesn’t it? If you’re a fan of the 911 and the Cayman, we reckon you’ll probably be keen... Or you'll despise it. It's that simple.