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| Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo Wagon Concept |
Porsche’s Panamera Sport Turismo wagon is debuting at the 2012 Paris auto show as a concept—but the clever sort of concept that will be on showroom floors in a year or two. The new rear end might not add a ton of cargo capacity, but it’s a clean, sexy design in comparison to the soggy mess of a tail on the current Panamera.
Because Porsche wasn##Q##t about to let Mercedes-Benz have all the sport wagon fun with its CLS Shooting Brake, the German sports car maker has revealed the Panamera Sport Turismo concept, a car that hints at the design of the brand##Q##s next-gen four-door.
The Sport Turismo incorporates thin, 911-style taillights connected—as they are on the new Carrera 4—with a horizontal bar.
The design of the lower part of the Sport Turismo’s rear isn’t terribly imaginative, but it does help to minimize what’s objectively a lot of mass.
The Sport Turismo utilizes the same 329-hp supercharged 3.0-liter V-6 found in the current Panamera S Hybrid and Cayenne S Hybrid, but the hybrid components have been enhanced.
A new electric motor produces around 94 hp, roughly twice the output of the units used in current Porsche hybrid models. Peak combined system power is 410 hp, which Porsche says is good enough 0-62 mph in less than 6 seconds.
That##Q##s not hard to believe, considering Porsche##Q##s 5.7-second estimated 0-60-mph time for the regular Panamera S Hybrid is half a second slower than the performance of a 2012 model we tested earlier this year.
From the rear-three-quarter angle, one could easily mistake this car for a dropped-and-chopped Cayenne SEMA car.
The Panamera Sport Turismo remains a concept, but the design language and technology it showcases is likely a taste of things to come from the Stuttgart-based automaker.
