Car Throttle

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

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

That was fast! Porsche's newest addition to the lineup, the 4-door Panamera, was just recently introduced for our markets. Widely panned for it's styling, it was only a matter of time before someone tried to make it better but I got to give Gemballa credit for a quick launch of the Mistrale. The question is though - did they improve it? Read on to find out! In a word - yes! There's my analysis. Seriously though, Gemballa has made some substantive changes that I think improve the look of the car. The rear (in my opinion) is the car's worse view and that's where most of the changes are. There was no press release so I don't have a total list of the changes, but what

A long long time ago, in a galaxy far away, called the 1980s, I remember a cover of Car & Driver Magazine that had a retouched version of a Porsche 911, stretched to have four doors. The headline stated flatly: "What Ferrari Fears To Do" or some such. Essentially that was a jab that everyone, who was anyone, back then, was making some sort of high performance four door, and although Ferrari had hinted at it, they had recently said no. The implication from C & D here was that Ferrari were a bunch of pussies, and couldn't keep up with what Stuttgart could, should and would do with barely breaking a sweat. Here we are, 25 years later, and over that span of time, Ferrari has

Porsche has big plans for the Panamera. Over the next few years it is expected to be an engine of growth for the brand. Reviews for the car have begun to appear and most of the impressions are good. I'm very much looking forward to seeing the Panamera in person. Will it look any better? Cars almost always do. It's just a question of how much better, since I've never been a big fan of the car's odd styling. We'll see. The Panamera's model line is about to get pretty crowded. At launch there is three models, the standard Panamera S, AWD Panamera 4S and the twin-turbocharged Panamera Turbo. A V6, V6 hybrid, diesel engines and a Turbo S or GTS model are all on the table.

Until the recent attempt to take over Volkswagen began to hit snags, Porsche was on a rampage. Last year was a record one for Porsche, with 98,652 Porsches sold across the globe. That's with three model lines, the Cayenne, Boxster/Cayman and 911. The Panamera is Porsche's fourth model line, and is joining the others this year. Many different possibilities have been floated as to what Porsche's fifth model could be. A new small roadster, reborn 928, Panamera coupe/convertible, the list goes on. Porsche's Executive Vice-President for Sales and Marketing Klaus Berning talked with CarsGuide.com.au about the future of Porsche and the state of the company's finances. Everything is OK, and that's what Berning wants to stress. He said that Porsche is one of the only (if not THE only, we'll see at the end of the year) automakers still producing a profit. That is

Ah, the Porsche Panamera.  It seems to just be one of those cars that no one likes. To be honest, I've never heard anyone say the Panamera was good looking. I'm sure there are some out there, but I haven't heard from them. I'm definitely in that camp. If you're going to make a new car, make it look good. I will say one thing nice about the car; the interior is amazing! Very nice, Porsche really hit the ball out of the park with that one. Besides, history has shown us that enthusiasts aren't always right at gauging the hits so what do I know right? Anyways, it seems like some help could be on the way in the form of a Panamera Cabriolet. I know

Well well well, after years of development and much spirited debate production of the Porsche Panamera has started at it's Leizpig factory. The Porsche Cayenne is also produced at the same factory. How fitting, huh? Two extremely controversial vehicles in Porsche's history, both produced at one plant. Oddly enough, these two vehicles may prove to be some of the most successful for Porsche.  Porsche plans to sell 20,000 units per year of the Panamera. We'll see if they hit that goal or not. Definitely pre-recession I think that was a sure thing, I think they still have pretty good chances of hitting their goal anyway, just due to the Porsche name and a desire for a 4-door model from the company. I am looking forward to seeing the Panamera in

The Aston Martin Rapide is inching closer and closer to production. Launch is still about a year away and Aston Martin has decided to give us a little more to look over until then. Official and beautiful! That's the image we have of the new Rapide, offering a further look on how the car has survived the translation from concept-speak to production. Check out the blacked-out mockup headlights, a la' One-77, as well as the silver color. Something special about those headlights, huh? Not really, often the pre-production models don't have the final units available. So don't expect the taillights to remain intact either. Now I'm a big Aston Martin fan so I'm not exactly impartial, but it's amazing. It truly is a 4-door sports car, an Aston