It doesn’t matter if you love it or hate it. The Porsche Panamera sedan is here to stay – at least for another generation.
The next generation will come bearing gifts to sway all the haters out there: fresh V6 and V8 engines and aluminum/steel underpinnings.
“Porsche will have its own new V8 that will be common to the new MSB platform,” Porsche chief engineer Wolfgang Hatz said. “It’s a family for the next 10 years of cars.”
That new backbone will be coupled with a front-mounted heart and rear- and 4-wheel-drive legs. Bentley might even put its own skins over the MSB, although it hasn’t committed to doing that with its next-generation Continental GT and Flying Spur models. Perhaps Audi’s MLB architecture, designed for longitudinal engine layouts and destined for the future A4, A5, A6, A7 and A8 cars, would be a better fit.
The next Panamera, seen above as a chassis mule undergoing testing, will use the MSB construction and is due to go on sale around 2017. Given its modular nature, the new platform’s wheelbase, track and seating position will be configurable for various applications, including a (yet-to-be-approved) 2-door Panamera with hard and soft tops. “Porsche has ‘package protected’ the model, which means the platform has been designed with these models in mind.”
Derek Shiekhi's father raised him on cars. As a boy, Derek accompanied his dad as he bought classics such as post-WWII GM trucks and early Ford Mustang convertibles.
After loving cars for years and getting a bachelor's degree in Business Management, Derek decided to get an associate degree in journalism. His networking put him in contact with the editor of the Austin-American Statesman newspaper, who hired him to write freelance about automotive culture and events in Austin, Texas in 2013. One particular story led to him getting a certificate for learning the foundations of road racing.
While watching TV with his parents one fateful evening, he saw a commercial that changed his life. In it, Jeep touted the Wrangler as the Texas Auto Writers Association's "SUV of Texas." Derek knew he had to join the organization if he was going to advance as an automotive writer. He joined the Texas Auto Writers Association (TAWA) in 2014 and was fortunate to meet several nice people who connected him to the representatives of several automakers and the people who could give him access to press vehicles (the first one he ever got the keys to was a Lexus LX 570). He's now a regular at TAWA's two main events: the Texas Auto Roundup in the spring and the Texas Truck Rodeo in the fall.
Over the past several years, Derek has learned how to drive off-road in various four-wheel-drive SUVs (he even camped out for two nights in a Land Rover), and driven around various tracks in hot hatches, muscle cars, and exotics. Several of his pieces, including his article about the 2015 Ford F-150 being crowned TAWA's 2014 "Truck of Texas" and his review of the Alfa Romeo 4C Spider, have won awards in TAWA's annual Excellence in Craft Competition. Last year, his JK Forum profile of Wagonmaster, a business that restores Jeep Wagoneers, won prizes in TAWA’s signature writing contest and its pickup- and SUV-focused Texas Truck Invitational.
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