Porsche Panamera: more details

The body of the four-door Porsche Panamera will be made in Austria by Magna Steyr, according to German magazine Der Spiegel. The bodyshells will then be transported to Leipzig, Germany, where the Panamera will be assembled alongside the Porsche Cayenne, with which it will share much of its powertrain. The Panamera will come with the same 4.5-litre V8 as the Cayenne, offered in turbo and normally-aspirated forms, and, in the range-topping model, a detuned version of the Carrera GT's 5.7 V10.

The Panamera is said to be a four-door fastback coupe in the vein of the Mercedes-Benz CLS; it will be front-engined, with its platform co-developed with Volkswagen, which will use this as the basis of its long-awaited C1, VW's BMW 5-Series rival. The platform - engineered for rear-wheel drive and four-wheel drive - is also expected to underpin the Mk2 Phaeton range, a luxury crossover to take on Mercedes' R-Class, and perhaps even a 'baby' Bentley to fit in the range below the Flying Spur.

Porsche is expected to unveil a Panamera concept car at the Frankfurt Motor Show this coming September, though production will not start until 2007 or even 2008.

Source: Channel 4