The Panamera isn't Porsche's first attempt at straying away from the 911-range with a totally atypical model. It might not even be one of its most disastrous. On the contrary, considering the market today. For example, starting from the 1970s, Porsche has tried to either draw attention from or complement the 911 with cars like the 914, 924/944, 928, Boxster/Cayman and of course, the Cayenne. So far, the most atypical of them all, the Cayenne, has actually proved to also be the best-seller of the bunch.
The Panamera isn't Porsche's first attempt at making a fast and luxurious grand tourer either, since the ill-fated 928 took the cake for that one. Coincidentally, the 928 also had four bucket seats and a V8 engine disposed in the front, while the GTS version was smoking fast as well.
You'll probably laugh, but the Panamera doesn't win the prize for the first Porsche sedan either. Back in 1988, when Aston Martin's current CEO Urlich Bez was at the helm of Porsche engineering, a strange idea popped into his head. It may have sounded something like: “How about ve make a four-door 911, ja? A car mit 911 looks, 911 performance und four seats, vhat do you say guys?”
Apparently everybody said yes, and remember, this was in a time when the 928 grand tourer was having a blast in sales worldwide. A prototype called “989” was built. Sadly, just in a matter of a couple of years the 928 sales plummeted, Porsche entered some financial doo doo and Mr Bez left the company, so the project for a four-door 911 was scrapped. Coincidentally (or not), Ulrich Bez has now brought the Aston Martin Rapide straight into Panamera territory.
Twenty-something years later, the four-door 911/luxurious grand touring sedan was revived from the dead and the Panamera was born. Some like it, some don't, but the real questions revolve more around its handling, performance and comfort than its looks. We say this because at least 50% of the international motoring press has already lambasted the car's styling.
We managed to borrow a Panamera S with PDK and rear-wheel drive for us to test and give our opinion about. To see if we were impressed in either a good or a bad way, you might as well read on and find out. Is this a four-wheeled masterpiece or a rotten apple in the Porsche orchard?
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