Shock: Future Of Cayenne, Panamera in Doubt?

The Porsche-VW story has been drama-filled and anything but dull. They should make some sort of documentary out of this! Drama is the key word here. You probably know the story by now - Porsche had embarked on an attempted takeover of Volkswagen, purchasing shares to gain control.

The advance ended at just over 50% when world markets started to falter. No one seemed to realize how much debt Porsche was taking on, and long story short, VW is purchasing Porsche.

That was a sad occurrence - goodbye to an independent Porsche. However a huge piece of news out of CAR Magazine has turned out to be a huge shock. Porsche's sales growth and high levels of profitability are due in large part to bold moves the company has made to expand it's model lineup. Boxster, Cayenne, and now Panamera have all been a part of that.

However, it appears that under new ownership Porsche will not continue development of those models. Hard to believe? Yes I am skeptical but it is coming from a credible source. According to CAR, Volkswagen's board voted for a"massive U-turn in Porsche's product plan" that will see both the Cayenne and Panamera axed at the end of their current product cycles around the 2016 model year for the Panamera. The Cayenne is supposed to continue with it's update in 2011, but there will be no further development after that.

If true, this runs counter to all previous reports of Volkswagen's plans for Porsche, as well as my thoughts of what they would do to the brand. For now I'm not banking on this as product plans can change drastically over time. This is going to be an interesting ride!