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Porsche releases Panamera teaser video, forgets the tease
Click above for a high-res gallery of the Porsche Panamera
"The first true sports car for four." That's what Porsche wants visitors to take away from its Panamera microsite after viewing a minute-long teaser. The only problem in our eyes (hyperbole aside) is that it never actually shows any images of the four-door sports "coupe," save for a shot of the Panamera's logo, which we've seen before. Regardless, Porschophiles might enjoy the clip as the automaker attempts to quell dissent among the brand's faithful with its tagline, "Four, uncompromised."
Gallery: Porsche Panamera Gran Turismo
[Source: Porsche Panamera Microsite]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
BigMcLargeHuge 5:21PM (10/16/2008)
Do they show the actual time it fell out of the ugly tree?
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BoxerFanatic 5:26PM (10/16/2008)
Porsche now, too?
It cannot be a coupe with four doors, and it cannot be a sports car with four seats.
It is a grand touring car, or a sport sedan. There is NO dishonor in that distinction, but calling things by other names just confuses classifications.
Calling a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet, but calling a rose a daisy just confuses people as to what a rose is.
Why not just throw vocabulary out the window...
Atimar, wernim dorcinate blotus carinese. Four Door Coupe Sports Car.
Guess what I just said. I just made it up. It is hard to communicate when the definitions are not agreed upon, or unknown, isn't it?
Aside from that... yup. It is the Panamera, which isn't a word, either. Panamericana is a word, and a name for an old race based on "pan"- meaning across, and "-americana", a form of America, a group of continents on this planet. A race across the american continent, specifically Mexico. I am not sure what "Amera" is.
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gt2378b 9:19AM (10/17/2008)
So what you're saying is "marketing is irritating"?
I agree.
Greg 9:58AM (10/17/2008)
"it cannot be a sports car with four seats."
Ever count the number of seats in a 911?
BoxerFanatic 12:11PM (10/17/2008)
Re: 911...
I think the Carreras and Turbo do border on a Grand Touring Sport Coupe. They probably straddle that line between GT Sport, and true Sports Car better than anything else. The rear seats of the 911 models that have them are very meager, and are almost more for insurance purposes, than actual use... and the space above the transaxle is unused anyway. That is why I say that they straddle the line. Most cars with rear seats give those seats much more consideration.
Again, there is no dishonor being a GT, or a sport coupe 2+2, rather than a Sports Car. But let's be clear about what is what. A sports car is a two (or perhaps one, if it were to exist) seat car that is built more for performance driving than any other aspect of practicality, including rear seat passenger accommodations, and the length and weight of the chassis to accommodate them.
The GT3 and GT2 are sports cars, and delete the weight of the rear seats, despite the ironic name useage. They are the more focused, and less compromised performance cars, and are more firmly in the sports car camp, as is Boxster and Cayman.
Being a sports car is more about chassis design philosophy than power levels or price tag. Power levels and price tag can be applied to any sort of chassis design. The more practicality factored into the chassis design, for rear seats, or for more cargo room, or other practical matters that aren't directly about the performance and control of the car, the further from a sports car the chassis becomes.
But that is fine... I like a good sport sedan, or even a good sporty station wagon (touring car), and there are a lot of nice 4-seat sport coupes around.
I am not opposed to 4-seat 4-door sport sedans with sleek profiles. I actually quite like the premise. I HATE the destruction of the vocabulary that occurs when people call them COUPES, because they are not. That isn't just marketing. That is erroneous and confusing marketing. It makes people think that coupe means something other than it's definition.
The same thing for sports cars. By calling anything with half an ounce of sporting pretense a sports car, it confuses people as to what a sports car really is. If an econo-box, or a muscle car can pass as a sports car... will people really buy, or build REAL sports cars, by the strict definition?
If Porsche thinks this Panamera is a sports car coupe, will they eventually phase out their real sports cars and real coupes? More practically, how will they differentiate their models, if they call them all the same things...
Classification by criteria is important, and is the foundation of organization. Removing or constantly re-editing the criteria makes things disorganized.
Benfolio 5:30PM (10/16/2008)
There it is!
Nope, a 911.
There it is!
Nope, another 911.
There it is!
Nope, Porsche's first failure as a sports car company, the Cayenne.
There it is?
Well, it's the logo.
This video was full of fail.
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dsharp23 7:06PM (10/16/2008)
ever driven a cayenne? no other SUV comes close. and like it or not, that vehicle funded porsche R&D for years to come..say what you want about the Panamera, from all accounts its ugly as hell, but if you haven't noticed, Porsche has never been about looks, they do it their way, take it or leave it, they don't even care what you, me or anyone else that doesn't buy one thinks.
Richard 6:25PM (10/16/2008)
dsharp23,
You're right! Porsche goes their own way. Hopefully, they'll offer this thing in brown - so it will look more like what it is.
Johnnie 5:40PM (10/16/2008)
I am a Porsche fan through and through and I think this car is probably one of the ugliest vehicles I have ever seen.
I'm talking Pontiac Aztek competition.
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jl 6:50PM (10/16/2008)
Every single image and spy shot of this car that's available is camouflaged. The back end is entirely different from the middle of the roof back.
steve Dunn 7:39PM (10/16/2008)
Yep - we haven't really seen this car yet - Porsche has been trotting around a mule to lower everone's expectations. I betcha when we see the real thing it is going to be very sleek and athletic. This will not be Cayenne part II.
Torrent 6:17PM (10/16/2008)
My answer is REJECT
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Richard 6:24PM (10/16/2008)
"Fluff:
_ Reject
_ Accept"
You're kidding, right?
This is fluff of Wagoner-esque proportions. Rick Wagoner, that is.
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jl 6:48PM (10/16/2008)
Wow. You guys are really late posting this now.
This has been out for ages. There's actually a video on that micro site that shows the car.
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ken_aisin 7:32PM (10/16/2008)
This is something that you would flush down the toilet without hesitation.
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1337 7:44PM (10/16/2008)
It would clog.
Quan 8:28PM (10/16/2008)
hahaha
cFoo 8:24PM (10/16/2008)
FAIL
Teaser? blah. cut the fluff and show us the car. Come on, even Ford is doing teaser for the rustang. Porsche = Ford?
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Jack 9:04PM (10/16/2008)
It's going to have to go a long way to beat the looks of the Maserati Granturismo in the styling department. From what I see here, they missed the mark BADLY.
Am I crazy or is this just a rebirth of the 928?
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Kaveh 9:07PM (10/16/2008)
I watched the video, the show the front end upto past the wheel as it drives by for a quick second.
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