Porsche Panamera to make world debut in China

Porsche Panamera

Porsche AG will present the new Panamera to the public for the first time at Auto Shanghai 2009 in China, scheduled from April 20 to 28, 2009.

Porsche’s unique, four- door Gran Turismo will be making its world debut at a press conference on April 19 and will be entering the market in late summer 2009 with the first models in U.S dealerships in the fall. The four-door Panamera will combine a wide range of features seemingly contradictory at first sight, and will offer a unique synthesis quite unparalleled in the premium segment.

The Panamera will come with all the sporting and dynamic characteristics of a genuine Porsche combined with a very high standard of driving comfort.

Despite its extra-low and sleek coupe silhouette, the Panamera will offer more than ample space and roominess inside for four passengers and variable loading space for a substantial amount of luggage.

The Panamera will also boast power units offering a high standard of fuel efficiency despite the car’s outstanding performance. All Panamera power units will be modern V-configuration engines with either six or eight cylinders covering a power range from 300 to 500 horsepower and featuring Direct Fuel Injection.

All engines will provide outstanding power and torque, together with very good fuel economy and exhaust emissions reduced to a minimum. The Panamera will make its debut with a normally aspirated V8 power unit, as well as a V8 featuring twin-turbocharger technology. In the United States all Panameras will feature Porsche’s new seven-speed Doppelkupplungsgetriebe (PDK) (Double-Clutch Gearbox).

This will give 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 its dynamic performance to an even higher level of perfection. The Panamera S with its normally aspirated V8 engine will come with rear-wheel drive as standard. The Panamera 4S and the twin-turbocharged Panamera Turbo will feature Porsche Traction Management (PTM) with extra-light, active all-wheel drive.

In the future Porsche also will bring both a V6 and a hybrid version to market.

In addition to the regular steel suspension featuring variable dampers for a sporting but comfortable driving experience, the Panamera also will be available with a brand-new optional adaptive air suspension system with additional air volume.

This system, standard on the Panamera Turbo, will ensure a particularly wide range of suspension characteristics with an even higher standard of motoring comfort on the one hand and extremely sporting driving dynamics on the other. In the Sport Plus Mode the air suspension will lower the entire car even further, giving the Panamera an even higher standard of aerodynamic efficiency and improving its center of gravity and enhancing driving safety and reducing fuel consumption.

Panamera also will be available with the optional Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC) system that actively compensates body roll in turns while improving the car’s response and smoothness on bumpy roads when driving in a straight line. Intelligent lightweight technology making appropriate use of high-strength steel, light alloys such as aluminum and magnesium, as well as high-tech plastic materials will serve to reduce the weight of the car to an appropriately low level in its class, benefiting not only fuel economy, but also driving dynamics.