Porsche Panamera Gran Turismo

The first pictures of the controversial new 4-door supercar from Stuttgart have been leaked onto the web ahead of it’s official unveiling on Monday. We weren’t expecting anything particularly radical and therefore Porsche haven’t given us anything to that extent. However if the regularity of Panamera spy shots are anything to go by then the performance and handling will be the main focus point.

The car bears a huge resemblance to the current generation Porsche models, sharing a similar front nose and bulbous rear. The Panamera however suffers from odd proportions because of this, the rear looks too short and curvy compared to the lengthy proportions of the rest of the car. Styling was a major issue with the Cayenne and Cayman we must remember though and they have been successful to a certain extent. We have therefore come to the conclusion that the Panamera, in terms of styling, is a Marmite car. You either love it, or you hate it.

Things get really interesting when you look at the power plants that are expected to be seen in the Panamera. There will be 300, 400 and 500bhp engines designated in usual Porsche style with the S and Turbo being the later two variants. The V8 Turbo and S models will be available from launch with the 300bhp V6 model introduced at a later date. The controversial PDK dual-clutch will also feature, were unsure at this stage whether a manual option will be available.

Expectations for the Panamera are high at Porsche were they aim to sell 20,000 units each year (20% of which will be turbo’s). They also expect that to increase in the future to 50,000 units when the car goes on sale in different markets. Give us your opinions in the comments box at the bottom of the page or on the thread running in our forums.

[Via AutoBlog]