Why Build The Panamera?


Having had its bacon saved by the Boxster in 1996 and its current account brought back into the black by the success of the first water-cooled 911 the following year, Porsche has enjoyed a decade of continual growth, increased sales (100,000 for the 2008 model year) and astronomical profits, although these were boosted somewhat by its hobby of playing at a hedge fund manager and winning. And while it would have been easy to continue on this route of tweaking Boxsters here, adding a Cayman model there and enjoying the enviable profits that the 911 returns, the company knew it would need to continue down the path of product diversity if it was to avoid periods of static growth.

The rumours of an all-new product line had been strong leading up to an announcement in the summer of 2005 that Porsche was to build a four-seat, four-door saloon car. But while this put an end to the rumours and speculation that we should expect a Porsche hot hatch, a baby SUV or a replacement for the 928, the idea of a saloon car in the Porsche line-up wasn't easy to imagine.

Porsche sees the Panamera as the model to round off its range, sitting above both 911 and Cayenne in the hierarchy of premium space on the showroom floor. And while it will compete with established models already being built by companies with vastly more experience than Porsche in this sector (Audi S8, BMW M5 and 7 Series, Bentley Flying Spur, Mercedes-Benz CLS63, S63 and S-Class, Maserati Quattroporte and any other big, powerful four-door saloon you can think of), Porsche fully expects the Panamera to go straight to the top of the class and become the clear segment leader in terms of a performance, driving dynamics and efficiency. No easy task, granted, but then this a company that, during its peak, managed to sell 50,000 Cayennes a year.

The Panamera will be good, very good in fact, but this will account for nothing if the customers aren't there to buy it, which in today's climate is the only blot on the immaculately laid out and thoroughly researched plan that Porsche has created for its new model.



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