Niche to know you: Porsche Panamera coupe and cabrio announced
The Porsche Panamera remains an acquired taste, albeit one that has found plenty of fans on a global — and even local — scale. The idea of a four-door 911 (or thereabouts) seemed like a mad suggestion when it was first unveiled several years ago, but the GT-style fastback has proven a consistent seller for the German performance brand.
Now Porsche is looking to switch things up again. Or, is it looking to revert to type?
Autocar UK reports that the manufacturer has announced it will build a coupe and cabrio version of the stretchy Panamera, both of which should be on sale before the end of next year.
Both cars will offer snug rear benches (or “2+2 accommodation” as polite society would have it), meaning that while the underpinnings will remain the same, the body work will probably
hover more closely to the proportions of a conventional 911.
And, yes, a coupe-style Panamera? Anyone with a love of Porsche’s front-engined 928, built between 1977 and 1995, should take note. A two-door coupe version of the Panamera has been the stuff of fevered car fan digital renders since about nine minutes after the big GT was first announced. Now, it looks like Porsche might finally be about to acquiesce.
What is less likely, is the rumoured cabrio version of the Panamera. It doesn’t seem like anyone would be clamouring for such a niche model, yet clearly Porsche has looked over the fence to fellow Stuttgart-based carmaker, Mercedes-Benz, and noted how well its S-Class Cabrio has done with the one percenters.
There is, of course, already a big, convertible GT in the wider Volkswagen Group family; the recently released Bentley Continental GT Convertible. The arrival of a soft-top luxo-barge with a Porsche badge might make for a slightly awkward family Christmas get-together come the end of 2020.