Porsche’s Panamera Sport Turismo is a sleek load-mover aimed at families
Snazzy estate gets a practical body for families but isn’t granted the brand’s latest V8 plug-in hybrid — not necessarily a bad thing for Thai Porsche fans.
That’s quite a stylish estate… Porsche has added a new body style to the Panamera model range called Sport Turismo. Although it looks like an estate, the Sport Turismo is more of a sleek load-mover targeted at families as well.
The Sport Turismo has the same exterior design as the regular Panamera but is differentiated rearward from the B-pillars. A new distinctive feature is the roof-mounted active rear spoiler that can adjust in angle depending on speed to enhance downforce accordingly.
Inside, the Sport Turismo gets the same high-tech dashboard with touchscreens and adjustable digital instrument panel as in the sedan model. What the Sport Turismo gets over the regular Panamera is an optional rear bench for three persons, though Porsche prefers to call the seating configuration “2+1”.
The Sport Turismo was first previewed in concept form in 2012 — the same year Mercedes-Benz launched a flashy-looking estate of the CLS called Shooting Brake — and is being shown in production-ready form, as seen in these official pictures, at the ongoing Geneva Motor Show.
Could that Merc really match the Porsche in size?
Actually, the Panamera Sport Turismo is larger than the CLS Shooting Brake in all dimensions, leaving it without a direct rival, though the concept for both cars is a sporty-looking estate.
The Sport Turismo is 5,049mm long, 1,937mm wide and 1,428mm tall. Its 2,950mm wheelbase, in particular, is 75mm longer than that of the Shooting Brake.
Adding up to practicality in the Sport Turismo is a 520litre boot — 20 litres more than in the Panamera sedan. As well, the rear seats can fold down in three parts to bring the theoretical maximum space to 1,390 litres.
The engines, meanwhile, are obviously shared with the sedan. They include 330hp and 440hp V6 petrol heads, 422hp V8 diesel, 550hp V8 petrol and 462hp V6 petrol-electric hybrid. All are mated to an eight-speed dual-clutch automatic and all-wheel-drive transmission.
Why doesn’t it get that high-performance hybrid engine Porsche announced recently?
True, the Panamera sedan has just received a new high-performance plug-in hybrid, which combines the Turbo’s 550hp 4.0-litre twin-turbo V8 with an electric motor to produce a combined 680hp. Porsche says 850Nm of torque is already available from idle speed in the Turbo S E-Hybrid.
Porsche claims that the Turbo S E-Hybrid goes from 0-100kph in 3.4 seconds before calling it a day at 310kph. The Turbo, meanwhile, has records of 3.6 seconds and 306kph.
The more crucial element for the Turbo S E-Hybrid is its ability to travel for 50km in pure electric mode. Under the controversial NEDC mode in Europe, the Turbo S E-Hybrid achieves just 66g/km of CO2 on average.
However, Porsche has yet to give the Sport Turismo this high-tech drivetrain, though Thai Porsche fans shouldn’t really moan: the plug-in hybrid will make it the most expensive model in the range.
The thing is, the Turbo S E-Hybrid won’t be able to attract the 10% excise rate for hybrid-powered cars in Thailand, as the internal combustion engine exceeds 3,000cc (3.0-litre). Thus, it faces a 50% rate and a potential 23-million-baht price tag.
At least, the 4 E-Hybrid will be subject to 10% when sales start just before mid-year for the sedan and later in the year for the Sport Turismo.
That 462hp 3.0-litre bi-turbo V6 is good for a 4.6-second acceleration time and 278kph top speed. Slower the figures may be, but they are still respectably fast for a sedan and estate of this nature.
And because it has plug-in facility, the 4 E-Hybrid can achieve 56g/km of that black soot to fall within the 10% range (no more than 100g/km). Expect prices to be just above 10 million baht.
So while there are some good intentions with the CO2-based tax regime in Thailand, the 3,000cc cut-off could be open to debate.