For as many years as the Porsche Panamera has been produced, rumors have been swirling that a 2-door coupe version would eventually be produced. Now, with the recent introduction of the Cayenne Coupe, Porsche has laid the ground work for coupe variants of current models. While other variants of the Panamera such as the Sport Turismo wagon had lackluster sales in the USA, a 2-door coupe version of the Panamera along with a 2-door convertible could bring life back into the dying Panamera model line.
To add fuel to the rumor mill fire, the Porsche Panamera product line chief Thomas Friemuth recently said in an interview with an Australian Motoring magazine that the project is still under consideration.
“We have not finally decided yet. So we are just discussing this topic for several years as you can imagine since other competitors also have two-door cars,” said Friemuth. “Be we’re not finally yet ready to decide whether to do this or not. We have quite a nice two-door car in our program called the 911. “[But] We are always looking at new opportunities to get new markets and more customers. I can talk about it when we have the decision for it – not yet. I have a lot of ideas.”
Turning the Panamera into a 928 style front engine coupe grand tourer would not only ignite the Porsche enthusiast community but enable Porsche to go after the BMW 8 Series, Mercedes S-Class Coupe, Maserati and other luxury touring coupes.
The 928 was a 2-door luxury grand touring model produced by Porsche from 1978-1995. It was originally built to replace the aging 911 model. At the time, Porsche believed a larger touring model would have a greater appeal than the smaller 911.
If it finally gets the go-ahead for production, the much anticipated 928 successor will likely be on a shortened version of the current Panamera platform. It would be larger than the 911, with a 2+2-seat configuration offering space for up to four occupants. Under the hood, we would expect it to share the same powertrains as the Panamera. And although the 928 was never officially offered in a convertible, the Panamera Coupe would lend itself nicely to convertible variant.
It remains to be seen if it would still be called the Panamera, but it could adopt an entirely new name. Our bet, is on a new name and wish Porsche would go back to using the 9 nomenclature which we’ve based this publication on.
