Porsche Panamera to Have Body Shells From Volkswagen

From the company’s Leipzig plant, the Panamera is set for a large-scale production for the 2009 market. The Porsche said in a statement that it is remaking its Leipzig plant with a new production facility costing the amount $206 million and 600 new jobs.

Admittedly, the actual Panamera concept which is shown in the spy photos courtesy of cardomain.com does look better than the Porsche 928 GT it’s based upon, but it still seems like a Porsche sedan.

Although Porsche have toyed with the idea of a sedan for more than 50 years, the company has never produced a sedan. It might seem desecration for Porsche to deviate from its purebred sports cars like the 911, Boxster and Cayman, but this is all “again all over again”. Before the end of 2002, Porsche released the Cayenne, a still-controversial SUV that has seen considerable success.

From the spy shots of the Panamera, it clearly follows Porsche’s sweeping, contoured design philosophy. It is basically more of a four-door coupe than a traditional sedan. Somewhat to the Cayenne and Cayman is the rear, where the Panamera will feature a hatchback-style vent similar to the Cayman. The spy photographer suspects that under the hood is a lineup similar to the Cayenne’s: a V6 and two V8s, ranging from a little under 300 horsepower to at least 500 in the top turbo version. But rumors are heard on Porsche’s mounting of the engines as far back as possible in order to keep the center of gravity in the center. And expect wider availability of the 6-speed manual transmission than in the Cayenne, too.

The Panamera is expected to provide excellent competition for the Maserati Quattroporte, Mercedes CLS, and BMW and Volkswagen’s upcoming four-door coupes.