SPOTTED: PORSCHE PANAMERA GOING SHOPPING

It must have rained Porsche Panameras! With the South African media launch scheduled for early February 2010, one would expect there to be fewer examples already running on the streets. Not Panamera. We’ve spotted no less than three different ones in the past week, two of them just earlier today! We were able to quickly snap this shiny one at a shopping centre in Woodmead, north of Johannesburg. The concerned model was a Panamera S which is the base child. It appears some customers have acquired their steeds at least two months ahead of the launch.

Mzansi is to get the five-door, two-seat Panamera S, Panamera 4S and the Panamera Turbo which are all powered by a 4.8-litre V8. The first two give out 294kW and 500Nm, the difference being that the 4S has all-wheel-drive (AWD). Implied by its name is the Turbo which is force-fed and kicks out a healthy 368kW and 700Nm of torque.

The Panamera is about 5 metres long, making it more of an Audi A8/ Mercedes-Benz S-Class competitor than that of the A6/ E-Class. Of course our inside information says Porsche is getting ready to enter this A6/ E-Class/ 5 Series segment within the next three years.


Porsche Panamera Pricing
Panamera S (R1 040 000)
Panamera 4S (R1 065 000)
Panamera Turbo (R1 665 000)