New Porsche Panamera to make world debut in China
Porsche Gran Turismo Combines Sportiness, Comfort and Function
Porsche will present its new Panamera to the public for the first time at Auto Shanghai 2009 in China from April 20–28. The unique, four-door Gran Turismo will make its world debut at a press conference on April 19 and will go on sale in late summer 2009.
The four-door Panamera combines a wide range of seemingly contradictory characteristics. It comes with all the sporting and dynamic characteristics of a genuine Porsche along with a very high standard of comfort. Despite its low and sleek coupé silhouette, the Panamera offers ample space for four passengers and a versatile cargo area for a substantial amount of luggage. The Panamera also features engines with excellent fuel efficiency along with outstanding performance.
All power units in the Panamera are modern V-engines with either six or eight cylinders covering a power range from 300–500 bhp and all feature Direct Fuel Injection. Superior power and torque are combined with excellent fuel economy and low exhaust emissions. The Panamera will debut with two engines, a naturally-aspirated V8 and a V8 featuring twin-turbocharger technology; V6 models will follow later.
Depending on the model, power is transmitted by a six-speed manual gearbox or Porsche’s new seven-speed Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK) Double-Clutch Gearbox. This gives the Panamera both a particularly sporting and an extra-comfortable character on the road.
As an option, the Panamera will be available with Porsche’s Sports Chrono Package, giving the car even more sporting and dynamic engine and gearshift characteristics and enhancing the performance of the Panamera to an even higher level.
The normally-aspirated versions of the Panamera will come as standard with rear-wheel drive. The top model in the range, with its turbocharged power unit, features Porsche Traction Management (PTM) with extra-light, active all-wheel drive. PTM is also available on the other models.
In addition to the regular steel suspension featuring variable dampers, the Panamera is available with brand-new, adaptive air suspension, ensuring a wide range of suspension characteristics: improved comfort on the one hand and extremely sporty driving dynamics on the other.
In Sport Plus Mode, the air suspension lowers the entire car down to the road, giving the Panamera increased aerodynamic efficiency and lowering its centre of gravity to enhance driving safety and reduce fuel consumption. Optional Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) actively compensates for body roll and improves the car’s ride on bumpy roads.
Intelligent lightweight technology, making use of high-strength steel, light alloys such as aluminium and magnesium, as well as high-tech plastic materials, reduces the weight of the car to an appropriately low level in its class, benefiting not only fuel economy, but also driving dynamics.