PORSCHE PANAMERA

For a long time, Porsche harboured the desire to develop a four-door car. Though it made stretched versions of its iconic 911 model in secret, the first opportunity to have a four-door saloon only came when Volkswagen wanted an SUV but didn’t have the know-how. For Porsche, it was the opposite case— it knew how to build one, but lacked the production facility. With this, Porsche seized the chance to produce its third line of cars, the Cayenne. The Cayenne was a runaway success and with the profits from it, Porsche began work on its fourth line of cars, the Panamera, which was introduced in 2009. After a long seven-year production life cycle, the marque introduced its second-generation Panamera in 2016 using a new production platform that will underpin the Bentley Continental. The initial line-up for the Panamera includes a 2.9L V6 440bhp 4S, a new 4L 422bhp turbo diesel V8 and a 4L 550bhp V8—all are all-wheeldrive and twin-turbocharged.