Second-Gen Porsche Panamera Turbo Launching Tomorrow

No matter what type of car Porsche ends up making, the flavour of its racing heritage is always evident. The same holds true with their luxury sedan - the Panamera. And now, the second generation of the sports sedan is making its way to the country tomorrow. As an added bonus, we might also get the higher variant - the Panamera Turbo Executive. The Turbo is expected to be priced around Rs 1.96 crore ex-showroom Delhi, whereas the Executive will further ask for a premium of about Rs 10 lakh over the Turbo. It will rival the likes of the Maserati Quattroporte GTS, Audi RS7 and the Mercedes-AMG S63. 

The Panamera Turbo comes with a 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 engine which puts out 550PS of power from 5750 to 6000rpm and 770Nm of torque from 1960 to 4500rpm. Mated to this engine is an 8-speed dual-clutch transmission which gives quick gear changes, helping the car reach 100kmph in just 3.8 seconds. The Executive, being longer, takes 0.1 second more to get to triple-digit speeds. If this is not enough for you, there is a Sport Chrono package as well which lets you have launch control. This will shave 0.2 seconds from the 100kmph sprint and will also get you a digital and analogue stopwatch, a lap timer, G-forces display, four customisable driving modes and Porsche Active Suspension Management.

The sedan remains largely practical to run as well. It will deliver a claimed fuel efficiency of 13.7kmpl on the highways and 7.7kmpl in the city, given that you drive it with a light right foot. 

An interesting feature of the Panamera Turbo is the InnoDrive. This is a semi-automatic drive system which works with the adaptive cruise control up to 60kmph. It lets the sedan run at the set speed while automatically keeping a safe distance from the car in front. If the car in front comes to a complete stop, the Panamera will also stop and then again accelerate to the set speed without the intervention of the driver. It can even provide slight steering inputs to maintain the lane.

The Porsche Panamera Turbo can also be bought with a rear-wheel steering. This virtually decreases the turning radius of the sedan at low speeds by turning the rear wheels in the opposite direction to that of the front. While going fast, the wheelbase is virtually increased by turning the rear wheels in the same direction to that of the front which helps keep the car more stable. 

The Porsche Panamera Turbo is an exciting blend of luxury and driveability. It is comfortable for being chauffeur driven on weekdays and exciting drives by yourself on weekends. Stay tuned for prices and more updates.

PS: Porsche has also dropped hints of launching the Panamera Sport Turismo, which has us drooling. Here's why.