Thank you, Porsche AG!
Congratulations again on holding the sedan record at the Nurburgring! While unofficial, I have no doubts as to the validity of this accomplishment. It couldn’t go to a more deserving company, as I’m sure the development of this entirely new platform took a tremendous amount of research to achieve.
I am impressed but not overall surprised at the well-roundedness of the new Porsche sedan. All reviews have praised it as comfortable, luxurious and sporty, if not a little odd to look at, like the sedan only Porsche could build.
But primarily, it is the design philosophy that I have come to appreciate; a design philosophy that is revolutionizing the way track performance in a street car is viewed.
To dissect what I love about the Panamera is to describe why it is such a great performer whilst maintaining everyday drivability: a sturdy chassis, a rear-biased AWD system, and a front-mid-engine layout. Notice, I’m not focusing on power, because power is fickle. Just like taxable income, it’s nice to have more of it even though you’re not likely to be able to use all of it when you want to.
Surely there are lighter sedans on the market, not to mention more powerful sedans. There are even lighter and more powerful sedans. And yet… there are not faster sedans. Truly a great accomplishment by the engineers working on this project.
Porsche has really moved the performance benchmark for sedans. Because even if their current competitors decide to tip the power-to-weight balance even further in their own favor with some extra added boost, the Panamera platform is a faster chassis. Meaning that a quid-pro-quo horsepower war with the Panamera is a losing game to any of its rear-wheel-drive competitors. The Panamera uses more of its power on a track, therefore the game of one-upmanship will play out in the Panamera’s favor until the competition updates their chassis to mimic the power-to-the-ground capabilities the Panamera exudes.
If you had strict rules of power and weight in street stock configuration, allowing any optional equipment (including AWD and a Doppelkuplung if you wish) so long as power and weight are standardized, the Panamera would be the current favorite. To translate, if you set a horsepower restriction on two fast sedans to 500 at the peak, it is already no contest. Meaning there are no 500hp sedans that can beat the Panamera. Set it to 550… again, no contest. There are no 550hp cars that can beat the Panamera. In fact it takes over 550 horsepower (and a lower curb weight) for the Panamera’s nearest title threat to match the 507 horsepower Panamera on this epic racecourse.
That is what I mean by a fast chassis. A high power-to-the-ground ratio.
And if you have a prize racehorse, you don’t take it for granted. No, once you realize you’ve got a king of champions in your stable, you selectively breed it. The Panamera would make a fine sire to a wide range of champion four-hoofers. But where to start?
Well a gap analysis of Porsche shows that they have no true grand touring coupe. They have a few half sports cars half GT cars, but how about a 928 successor?
Think about it: all the goods are there for a totally wild 2+2. Heck, I even think a Panamera coupe would be the best looking horse in the Porsche stable if that oddly-stretched middle section were tapered back by a few decimeters.
And then there’s the performance! The sky is the limit for a car that out-performs others in its ‘class.’ They scramble to shave tenths while you find out there were more seconds left in her.
I’m betting a 480hp Porsche 928 built on the Panamera chassis would make short work of a whole range of more powerful competitors. Even at almost two tons, it would already be built on a chassis that outruns cars with 15% higher power-to-weight, by several seconds! That’s an advantage I’d want to get behind.




















































































