Porsche’s Panamera Sport Turismo… Is a Wagon?
Wow. Now this is a Panamera I can get behind. Porsche leaked these photos of their Panamera Sport Turismo today right before the Paris Autoshow. My only question is “Why didn’t they build this sooner?”
Look. No one is going to rag on the Panamera for being slow. When it comes to sport sedans, they run rings around pretty much everything else. But the problem has always been that the rear end is pudgy and over-round. As fast as it may be it cannot outrun it’s own ass.
New, slimmer 991 style tail-lights help reduce the roundness as does the more upright hatch. The spoiler is a nice touch too. Although, it would probably look more elegant without it. In addition to just plain looking better, you also get more room for stuff. The four-door coupe form factor is fashionable, but they almost always take up the same space of a wagon without any of the added benefit. In the Panamera’s case it was inefficient and ill-proportioned. No more.
The sport wagon market is a busy one. The CTS-V, CLS63, and RS6 all compete for the dollars of someone looking for a high-end hatchback. As a fan of all those cars, I dare say this one is the most attractive. In all likelihood, it’ll also be the best handling and the fastest. It’s still a “concept” though, so maybe I’m getting ahead of myself. There’ll be more information in the following days when the Paris Auto Show gets under way. In the meantime, you can familiarize yourself with the current gen Panamera at New Car Test Drive.
