Car Throttle

Here at CarThrottle, we are big fans of the Porsche 928 - and indeed most all Porsches. The new Panamera four-door brings a suitable front-engined, rear-wheel drive platform to the table yet again. Why not use that platform to build a exciting new 928 GT, increasing economies of scale and profit margins at the same time? Give the fans something to be happy about as a result of the Panamera platform. Many reports have swirled about just that, and today a design has appeared online. Its just a sketch, and not necessarily a 928. But it looks like one.  You can tell we are desperate here! This design was spotted on Porsche Design Consulting's website, and it looks pretty good to us. Porsche had to know we

Often designs that are hated by a small section of the automotive community will go on to be big successes. This has happened with Porsche and the Cayenne. It looks like history is about to repeat itself with the Panamera, Porsche's first four-door. It has recently gone on sale in the United States and it is already making waves - as the brand's top seller. The Cayenne has been Porsche's top seller in our market for some time. The new Panamera has replaced it at the top for the month of April, selling 678 vehicles, an impressive tally that blows away all other Porsche models. Will this trend continue? It will be interesting to see. Porsche, along with other manufacturers, is getting ready for the 2011 model year.

Patent filings are proving to be a good source of information today, with a General Motors filing potentially showing the look of the next-generation Malibu and now a Porsche filing that points to a Panamera Convertible. Last year, we reported that a convertible version of the Panamera was coming, as a way for Porsche to reduce costs for the platform due to economies of scale. However, also in that report it said the Panamera Convertible would be a two-door. Which is why we (and everyone else) were surprised to see a four-door in new images from Autocar that look like authentic filings with the patent office. It is something that no one else is really doing at the moment, offering Porsche a chance to stand out

One of the most persistent rumors lately has been the introduction of a new Porsche 928. When the original car came out it was thought that one day it could replace the venerable 911. Obviously, that didn't work out quite like Porsche anticipated. Porsche has expanded quite a bit since then, introducing the Panamera, whose platform would make the perfect basis for a front-engined 928 GT. It could serve as Porsche's fifth model for what would likely be a low development cost, not to mention increasing economies of scale for the Panamera. But, what would it look like? Member Wild-Speed on the Teamspeed forums thinks he has an idea. Basically, it looks like a Panamera turned into a GT, and the result comes out looking not too

We look forward to the videos released by manufacturers for the action that most of them have. Or at least, seeing something that hasn't come out before. The Porsche Panamera V-6 is new, so Porsche released a video of it. Got to hand it to them - besides a walk around (like Audi and Infiniti), this has to be one of the most boring Porsche videos ever. They're driving yes, but you can't hear anything. That's half the fun! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QjeHEFhDLw

While derided by critics, the Porsche Panamera has been doing quite well for itself in the only baromoter that really counts - sales. It was reported recently that strong customer response for the Panamera has resulted in over 968 firm orders for the car. Could it prove to be that yet another critically-derided car has gone on to achieve success? It is far too early to tell that, but it is a good start for Porsche nontheless. With those orders in hand, Porsche has begun shipping out Panameras for initial buyers. They seem to have hit a snag though. The first set of 200 Panameras were shipped to United States ports for shipment to customers, but actual delivery has been delayed due to problems with the

Often vehicles that are much derided on the Internet and by automotive pundits had proven to be very successful. Best example? BMW's Bangle-created design language, which powered BMW to more success than ever. Current cars getting a lot of criticism include Honda's recent CrossTour and no doubt, the Porsche Panamera. Automotive News is reporting that the ordering process for the Panamera has been opened up, with initial orders being very strong. According to North America Chief Operating Officer Michael Bartsch, Porsche has gotten 968 firm orders for the sedan and it is helping boost traffic numbers in showrooms. Those kind of order figures for an expensive sedan like the Panamera in the current state of the economy is very good. It is a testament to the power of the Porsche

There has been continued reports about the VW-Porsche saga in the automotive press - about the percentage of the stake, the process of VW making the purchase and the like. To me though, from the very moment Porsche's longtime chief Wendeling Wiedeking left the company it was clear to me Porsche was on it's way to becoming a VW brand. That seems to be happening quite quickly, if new Porsche CEO Michael Macht's comments are any indication. "Porsche needs to become a strong pillar of VW, as well as having its own production and research and development capabilities. It is important to use synergies as well as having independence and the Panamera platform could be used by other brands for models that are in development and at

Like the Cayenne that came before it (but perhaps to a lesser degree) the Porsche Panamera has met a lot of controversy from Porsche purists. There's no denying the proposition of a four-door Porsche making sense to many. Who wouldn't want to carry around four passengers in comfort at crazy speeds? To me the problem has less to do with how many doors it has and more to do with how it looks. I'm reserving final judgement until I see it in person though, but I think Porsche could have took a few lessons from the Aston Martin Rapide. Now that's a four door sportscar. Regardless, Porsche has a new advertisement out about the Panamera. It uses a new "Four. Uncompromised" in an attempt to assuage any concerns about it

Porsche has been adamant about the need to add new models to the lineup. Sources say there could be as many as three coming over the next few years. One of the new models that was recently introduced is the Panamera four-door sedan. A cabriolet variant of that car could be coming quickly. The cabriolet itself hasn't been officially confirmed, but there has been many comments about new models from executives. A recent one was by Porsche development chief Wolfgang Duerheimer speaking with Automobilwoche "We have a broad range of 14 derivatives of the 911 that are very successful, so it stands to reason we should diversify the lineup for the Panamera as well." Reports are saying the car would be a two-door, not a convertible version