The Porsche Panamera (Type number 970) is a five-door, four-seat luxury sedan with a coupe profile and a rear hatch. It is front-engined with rear-wheel drive, with four-wheel drive versions also available.The Porsche Panamera production model was unveiled at the 13th Auto Shanghai International Automobile Show in Shanghai, China, on April 2009. In 2011, hybrid and diesel versions were launched.
The Panamera's name is derived, like the Porsche Carrera line, from the Carrera Panamericana race. Earlier prototypes and concepts of the four-door saloons, such as the 1991 Porsche 989 prototype, the four-door 911 based prototype, and the C88 supermini sedan concept for China, never went into production.
The Panamera is generally considered to be the long-awaited fruit of Porsche's 989 concept from the late 1980s; some argue that it also presents itself as a successor to the two-door 928, but there may be plans to develop a new 928 as well.
The Porsche Panamera is marketed as a more exciting and higher performing alternative to the traditional executive saloons such as the BMW 7 Series, the Audi A8, and the Mercedes-Benz S-Class. However, Porsche is not the only auto manufacturer to design a four-door super-car. The Panamera competes more directly with cars like the Aston Martin Rapide, the Maserati Quattroporte, the Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class, and the BMW 5 Series Gran Turismo.
