Panamera

Make
Porsche
Segment
Sedan

The previously spotted new Porsche Panamera with a tasty, large Shooting Brake body style looked much better than the normal Panamera, to our eyes at least. But then Porsche unveiled the all-new second-generation performance sedan and our lust for a wagon variant became even stronger. The good news is that Bloomberg is reporting that the manufacturer plans on offering this car after it's big public reveal at the 2017 Geneva Motor Show in March. The manufacturer hinted at this release date a few years ago though, so it was expected.

Besides the new spy shots, there was already a similar model in existence that Porsche showed off in 2012 at the Paris Motor Show. At that show, the then Chief of Marketing (now at Skoda) Bernhard Maier commented "it is getting more likely that we will do such a car." At the time Porsche also said that if it does make it to production, we could expect the wagon version of the Panamera to arrive sometime around 2017. So It looks like when Porsche doesn't quite confirm something but still gives an estimated date, we should take them more seriously. It's worth scanning previous new model comments to see what else may be in the pipeline.

With more than 150,000 Panameras sold since the model was launched seven years ago, adding a new body style to the options can't be a bad thing for the brand. It now has the SUV market covered with the Cayman and the Cayenne, and dipping in to the practical saloon market will give the brand a much wider appeal. Some years back if you told Porsche fans that their favorite carmaker would enter the SUV and the 4-door luxury car market, they'd label you insane, but Porsche has done just that. The Mercedes-Benz CLS Shooting Brake may need to up it's game now.