German luxury carmaker Porsche is planning to roll out the next gen Panamera in the second half of 2016. Porsche put on display the Cayman GT4 during the Geneva Motor Show early this month but gave a hint on the upcoming Panamera merely through words.
Matthias Muller, President and CEO of Porsche, confirmed during the event that the next gen Panamera will be coming in the second half of next year and that it would feature an evolutionary design compared to the current generation variant.
Muller said that it would basically maintain the same design language and shall possess its signature Panamera look but it will come in a better package and certainly more modern features, notes Indian Autos Blog.
A heavyweight that is very light in weight
For starters, the next gen Porsche Panamera would be a real heavyweight of a luxury sedan when it officially rolls out but it would only be weighing 90 kilograms (200 pounds) or less, which would really be amazing.
The new Porsche Panamera would make use of aluminum and high-strength steel which is why it will come out lighter than its predecessor. It will also come with newly-developed turbocharged V6 and V8 engines as well as diesel engines which will be surprisingly very lightweight.
The next gen Panamera will also be a hybrid vehicle and thus will come with the plug-in hybrid system.
While Porsche hast yet to officially unveil the next version of the Panamera, reports going around indicate that the luxury sedan will have a sleeker roof line and its interiors will be more concise and straightforward.
Apparently, it will do away with several unnecessary buttons to clean the rather uncluttered look as well as contribute in making the car very light in weight.
There are also reports that the next gen Porsche Panamera will come in three different exterior designs including a five-door coupe, a stretched five-door long-wheelbase coupe, and a five-door SportTurismo shooting brake that was previewed as a concept car during the 2012 Paris Motor Show.
Beginnings
Porsche first unravelled the production model of the Panamera during the 13th Auto Shanghai international automobile show in Shanghai, China in April 2009 as a gasoline-powered sedan.
Since 2009, the engines of the Panamera are being assembled in Stuttgart, Germany while the car’s body is being built at the Volkswagen Group’s facility in Hannover. The final assembly of the luxury sedan is being done at an assembly plant in Leipzig, Germany alongside the Cayenne.
In 2011, the front-engined luxury sedan came out with a hybrid and diesel engine versions. Porsche actually released to the US market a plug-in version of the Panamera, called S E-Hybrd in November 2013.
In 2013, a makeover to the Panamera was announced during the auto show in Shanghai once again which is what Porsche would be rolling out towards the second half of next year.