A few weeks ago reports emerged that the 2010 Porsche Panamera would be just efficient enough to squeak by without incurring the gas guzzler tax penalty, a happy thought for potential owners. Today at a Panamera drive event, Porsche confirmed to High Gear Media that the car will indeed sidestep the tax.
It just barely clears the required mark, however, with a combined fuel economy rating of 23 mpg across the range for purposes of the tax. That's only 0.5 mpg above the floor for avoiding the tax.
The Turbo knocks another 1 mpg off each of those figures.
If combined efficiency of a passenger car dips anywhere below 22.5 mpg, the tax starts at $1,000 and quickly ramps up from there, hitting $3,000 below 17.5 mpg and maxing out at $7,700 for cars averaging less than 12.5 mpg.
The gas guzzler tax was formulated in the late 1970s and revised in 1991, but SUVs picups, and commercial vehicles are still excluded from its scope, meaning only passenger cars are subject to the tax.

i guess gas guzzler tax isn`t that decisive for Porsche drivers, but still a great effort by the Weissach engineers imho.



(The Panamera is the first car with an automatic double clutch transmission that is coupled with an engine that has a Start/Stop system.
The start/stop system adds to the fuel efficiency of the Panamera as it turns off the engine when its power is not needed, like when waiting for a green light. Aside from this benefit, the technology also helps in lowering its emissions.
The engine of the Porsche Panamera is also equipped with the very efficient Direct Fuel Injection technology. All Porsche Panameras come with a PDK gearbox which makes it more fuel efficient.
The wheels of the Panamera are also designed to have lesser rolling resistance. The brakes are also engineered to have minimum residual brake forces.
The Panamera only uses up 10.8 L of fuel for every 100 kilometers or 26 mpg imp. That’s not AWESOME fuel efficiency, but that’s good for a Porsche.
The body of the Panamera consists of different steel grades, alloys like magnesium and aluminum, and plastics. This ideal architecture gives the Panamera S only weighs around 1800 kilograms e.g.)

 

Nice, now I can afford one for sure!