2017 Porsche Panamera Turbo Launching On March 22

For those who don’t know, the Panamera Turbo is Porsche’s hatchback-ish sedan that can put many a sports car to shame. Why? because despite being over 5000mm long with an over 3000mm wheelbase and as opulent as a luxury sedan can be, it’s still a Porsche. And the new generation of the sports-car shamer is all set to set foot in India on March 22 and will feature a new powertrain.

The pricier variant of the Turbo, the Panamera Turbo Executive, is also expected to join the Panamera. The Turbo will most likely be priced around Rs 1.96 crore ex-showroom Delhi while the executive will command a  premium of around Rs 10.0 lakh over the Turbo.

Executive is the extended wheelbase version of the Panamera Turbo, and its axles are separated by 3100mm (150mm more than the Turbo). That affects its length, which, at 5199mm, is also 150mm longer than the Turbo. The difference in the height, however, is only of 5mm, with the Executive being taller but when the car measures 1427mm, adding another 5mm makes a world of difference making ingress-egress that much easier.
Porsche Panamera Turbo

The second generation Panamera Turbo has a smaller and fuel-efficient, yet a more powerful engine. The new powertrain is a 4.0-litre twin turbo V8 that pumps out 550PS of power from 5750 to 6000rpm and 770Nm of torque from 1960 to 4500rpm. It's paired with an 8-speed dual clutch transmission for lightning-quick gear changes. Accelerating to 100kmph takes 3.8 seconds for the Turbo while the Executive is slower by a tenth of a second. Launch Control, which is part of the Sport Chrono package, could further shave that sprint time by two-tenths of a second. The package also includes a digital and analogue stopwatch, a lap timer, realtime display of lateral and longitudinal G-forces, four customisable driving modes and Porsche Active Suspension Management among other things.

The car will reward you with a fuel efficiency of 13.7kmpl if you're able to maintain a feather-light foot on the accelerator pedal even after seeing a smooth piece of tarmac. In the city, the claimed figure drops to 7.7kmpl with a sedate driving style.

On the feature front, there’s semi-autonomous driving system, called InnoDrive, which works in conjunction with the adaptive cruise control. It’ll make the Panamera Turbo an easy car to go grand touring. It can maintain a set speed just like cruise control but also keep a safe distance from the vehicle in front. It can even come down to a complete stop and then accelerate back up to get up to the set speed. With the InnoDrive, it can provide light inputs on the steering as well to maintain the lane while also managing acceleration and braking in tight traffic conditions. It can work at speeds of up to 60kmph while also keeping an eye on the road signs. Adding to the safety package of the Panamera Turbo is Night View, which can uses infrared to detect humans and animals in poor visibility.

The Panamera is also available with optional rear-axle steering, which reduces the turning radius considerably during low-speed manoeuvres by turning the rear wheels in the opposite direction. At high speeds, the rear wheels turn the same direction, thereby making the car even more stable.

The Panamera Turbo will go up against the Maserati Quattroporte GTS, Audi RS7 and the Mercedes-AMG S63