Report: Porsche’s new Panamera wagon should be in the US after 2017

Porsche announced to be producing a long-roof version of the next-generation Panamera and even confirmed its eventual arrival to US shores, despite American’s showing low-interest in wagons in general.

Now, in the latest development from AutomotiveNews Europe, word is the Panamera could arrive as early as 2018.

“We are confident that this car will be well received here, despite the fact that this country doesn’t really like hatchbacks or wagons,” said Porsche North America’s head honcho, Klaus Zellmer.

Further substantiating these claims were recent spy photos of what appeared to be a “shooting brake” or a sleek wagon version of the Panamera. So Porsche’s certainly working on one and it’s pretty much without a doubt that it will happen.

So far, from what we know, the new Panamera wagon will be heavily inspired by the fairly recent Sport Turismo Concept from 2012, with its backbone from Volkswagen AG’s latest MSB platform, along with some new turbocharged V6 and V8 mills.

Other suggestions point to the conversion of touch-sensitive, and haptic buttons in favor of physical switches. So basically, Porsche plans to make the Panamera less ergonomically friendly than it already is with its sea of buttons on the center console.

In addition to the wagon, other rumors suggest the possibility of a Panamera Coupe and Convertible, though the worry here is that those new models could steal sales away from Porsche’s signature 911 models, which is as much of a political no-no as punching The Pope in the face.

So it will be interesting to see how they proceed.

– By: Chris Chin

Source: AutomotiveNews Europe