Issue 123
February 2012

When designing the Panamera the company had a number of key criteria to work too: it had to look like a Porsche, provide the superior comfort expected of a car in this class, be of a lightweight construction typical of Porsche's sports cars, provide the functionality of a four-door design and be as aerodynamically efficient as possible.

When you first see the car in the flesh you'll see that the Panamera could be nothing but a Porsche, and when we get on to the car's interior we'll explain how it's got the comfort aspect and functionality nailed, too. Lightness, then. As with its sports cars Porsche has gone down the lightweight material route. The doors, bonnet, front wings and tailgate are made of aluminium while the door's window frames are constructed from magnesium, as is the front mounting for the radiators. Plastics are used for areas of the floor and no less than five different grades of steel are employed for the remainder of the Panamera's construction.

Combined with the aluminium and magnesium parts used in other areas of the car, and details such as developing an air-conditioning system that requires just a single motor, it's no surprise that Porsche has managed to keep the kerb weights sensible. With the Panamera S weighing in at 1770 kilos it's only 185 kilos heavier than a 911 Turbo, and just ten kilos heavier than a Aston Martin DB9!

The crucial thing about the Panamera's design is that it looks so much better in the flesh and no picture can do it justice. It's not as big or imposing as you would imagine, either. Parked amongst Porsche's sports cars it neither sticks out like the proverbial sore thumb, nor has the look of an anonymous blob.

The front end is much sleeker than you would think, with the lines of the bonnet's power dome providing the aggression and the Carrera GT-style headlamps and LED daylight running lamps the matching jewellery. The side-strake and subsequent lines of the car's profile provide the Panamera with a hint of elongated Ferrari 456, no bad thing, and the curvature of the window line as it passes the rear doors provides that distinctive Porsche design cue.

It's only after the shut line of the rear doors that the Panamera struggles, with there simply being too much bodywork for the designers to conceal, and while the bulk is well hidden it's not a truly harmonious piece of design. Consequently, from the dead rear the Panamera is not at its best but the Porsche script (the first time the name has appeared on a production Porsche since the 968) and four fat tailpipes leave you in no doubt as to this car's intentions.

A tradition carried over from its sports cars is the inclusion of a retractable rear spoiler that, on the Turbo, rises out from the body beneath the rear window before extending longitudinally across the rear arches. Generating 6.5 kilos of downforce, what it lacks in aesthetics it makes up for in functionality.

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