Porsche Panamera debuts at 13th Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition

MANILA, Philippines - It’s finally unveiled! Regular readers of this space may recall that exactly a month ago, we featured a sneak peek story on the new Porsche Panamera. We mentioned then that the Panamera wouldn’t make its global debut for another month. Well, that month has passed. And the Panamera has indeed come out of its shell. Porsche’s most anticipated model debut turned out to be a smashing one, we must say. It was held it what is easily the fastest growing automobile showcase in the world – the Shanghai International Automobile Industry Exhibition.

The Panamera’s debut in a region well outside of Porsche’s native Germany wasn’t lost on any of us who attended the launch, of course. In fact, quite a number of journalists who weren’t at the sneak peek in Weissach, Germany expressed their curiosity quite vocally. But as even the most learned of Porsche’s top brass would argue, this isn’t really a garden variety Porsche that they were launching. ”Introducing the Panamera, we are entering a market segment completely new for our customers and we are once again consistently expanding our model portfolio,” reasoned Klaus Berning, Executive Vice-President Sales and Marketing of Porsche AG.

The Porsche Panamera clearly stands out at first sight. Like no other car in its class, it offers a truly unique combination of sporting performance and luxurious comfort. Despite its low and sleek silhouette typical of a Porsche, the Panamera, which measures 4.97 meters in length but only 1.42 meters in height, ensures a generous feeling of space on all four seats – all of which have access via four free standing doors.

Porsche promises that the Panamera’s looks aren’t the only thing new in their latest offering. Along with the Panamera, Porsche is introducing no less than five technological innovations – among them the first Start-Stop system in conjunction with automatic transmission, air suspension with additional air volume available on demand in each spring, as well as active aerodynamics with an adjustable, multi-dimensional, extendable rear spoiler on the Panamera Turbo. As we’d argued in our sneak peek, the Porsche engineers really weren’t pulling any punches on this one.

“Our engineers, technicians, and designers have invested all their know-how, years of experience, a wealth of ideas, and their full passion for sports cars in this four-seater Gran Turismo,” exclaimed Wolfgang Dürheimer, Porsche’s Executive Vice-President Research and Development, the same gentleman who introduced us to the Panamera last month.

Dürheimer, we realized as early as then, of course, isn’t prone to exaggeration. Porsche’s Gran Turismo sets new standards in its market segment in terms of performance, driving dynamics and efficiency as it benefits from Porsche’s traditional core competencies and years of experience in motorsport with efficient and powerful engines, lightweight technologies, and optimized aerodynamics. All models in the Panamera range come with Porsche Direct Fuel Injection, low-friction drive systems, and weight-optimized lightweight bodies. The Panamera’s three variants are 8-cylinder monsters that deliver 400 and 500 horsepower respectively via both a rear-wheel (Panamera S) and all-wheel drive (Panamera 4S) and a turbo (Panamera Turbo).

A handful of PGA Cars executives, led by their Chairman Robert Coyiuto, Jr. were on hand to witness the historic launch in Shanghai along with us. We thus grabbed the opportunity to interview them as well. PGA Cars, being the exclusive distributors of the Porsche brand in the Philippines, after all, stands to benefit immensely from the introduction of this alluring new model. “We’re very confident about the new Porsche Panamera. While allocation protocol dictates that we can’t deliver any units to Filipino buyers in the next couple of months, orders for the new Panamera are already being placed. It’s great to see how the Philippine market has embraced this brave new concept from Porsche – even as we’ve all only seen it up close just now. It truly rounds out the Porsche model series in grand fashion,” said Coyiuto.

Now that the new Porsche Panamera has finally made its debut, doubters and skeptics are likely to raise their collective eyebrows. Well, we say let them. Because from what we’ve seen and felt (we did get to ride the various Panamera variants in a test track last month), it’s likely their number will soon diminish. The Panamera is an excessively impressive vehicle. And the people who peddle Porsches are likely to have a field day selling the darn things in the foreseeable future. You have any questions or are simply downright curious, you can go ahead and visit the PGA Cars showroom along EDSA. You ask us? We’re merely glad to have witnessed the launch of a very important model from a very iconic brand. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what motoring is all about. Each day we discover little – and not so little – surprises. Each day, another new vehicle fascinates us. The Porsche Panamera is without a doubt one such vehicle.