Porsche Concept: Panamera Sport Turismo

Porsche just unveiled a new concept car.  The panamera Sport Turismo.  Please don't call it a wagon, that name is just not cool enough for this beautiful, futuristic beast.  Here is the official press release from Porsche with more photos at the end:


Porsche concept car offers glimpse of a sports car of tomorrow Sporty, functional, efficient: Panamera Sport Turismo
Porsche is presenting the Panamera Sport Turismo concept car to show how amazingly intelligent and efficient drive technology might look in the design language of tomorrow. The Sport Turismo unites the next generation hybrid drive with new ideas for an evolutionary, sporty body concept; it combines Porsche performance with comprehensive everyday practicality. Body: sports appeal and functionality in further developed design
The body concept of the Panamera Sport Turismo is an outlook on a possible Porsche sports car of tomorrow: the overhangs are short and the boot lid is large – both sporty and functional. The concept car combines the dimensions of a premium vehicle with the interior comfort of the luxury class. The Sport Turismo is 75 in. (1,990 mm) wide, a low 55 in. (1,401 mm) in height and 195 in. (4,950 mm) long. Its direction indicators and sidelights are integrated in C-shaped lighting units – known as C-Blades – mounted in the large air inlets at the front end. Together with four-point LED headlights in an innovative design, they define the front end appearance of the concept car.
The smooth and taut exterior skin is not interrupted by add-on parts – there are no conventional exterior mirrors. In their place, the Sport Turismo has two cameras mounted in the side air outlets whose images are shown on the displays in the cockpit. The rear body has been completely reshaped, yet it retains all of the characteristics of a Porsche. The rear lights in LED technology and the tail-light panel with the “Porsche” badge are sculpted in three dimensions, and the brake light is positioned between the four-point LED rear lights. Forming the roof termination is an adaptive carbon rear spoiler that produces improved downforce.
The new Liquid Metal Blue color gives the concept car a surface that resembles liquid metal and highlights its contours and design lines more distinctly. The wheels in dual-spoke design have a bi-color look, and the brake calipers are painted Acid Green. The hub locks of the wheels recall the origins of every Porsche – which is motorsport. “e-hybrid” badges on the sides refer to the car’s drive concept, while the name “Sport Turismo” at the rear, framed in the same Acid Green color, emphasizes the car’s concept character. The milled aluminum battery housing is mounted under the boot floor, which is made of electro-chromatic glass and reveals a view of the energy source illuminated in Acid Green at the press of a button.
“e-hybrid” stands for plug-in hybrid technology from Porsche
The drive technology of the Panamera Sport Turismo completes the next development step towards the plug-in hybrid, symbolized by the “e-hybrid” badge on the front wings. The car’s new ability to be charged from the electrical power grid has been combined with even higher performance components. The concept vehicle with its 416 hp (306 kW) of peak system power is designed to be driven in pure electric mode up to a speed of 80 mph (130 km/hr) and can cover distances of over 18.6 miles (30 km). The Sport Turismo also exhibits impressive fuel economy per the NEDC standard; its combined fuel consumption is less than 3.5 liters per 100 km, while CO2 emissions are under 82 g/km. The drive system of the Panamera Sport Turismo is an advanced development of the parallel full hybrid that Porsche already implements today in the Panamera S Hybrid and Cayenne S Hybrid. The new electric motor produces about 70 kW (95 hp), which is around twice as much as in today’s Porsche hybrid drive, while the three-liter V6 supercharged engine still produces 245 kW (333 hp) here. In their interplay, they accelerate the concept car from zero to 62 mph in less than six seconds.
Power pack: lithium-ion battery with external charging capability
The electric power pack of the Sport Turismo e-hybrid consists of a lithium-ion battery whose performance is several times that of the nickel-hydride battery currently used in production, although it has practically the same dimensions. Its 9.4 Kilowatt-hours of energy storage capacity and high peak power enable faster acceleration, longer electric driving range and higher speeds when driving without the internal combustion engine.

The default operating mode of the e-hybrid prioritizes all-electric driving, but the driver may deactivate this by pressing a special button on the steering wheel. In addition, when the car is being operated in hybrid mode the driver can select the e-charge mode by pressing the steering wheel button to intentionally intensify charging of the high-voltage battery. This is especially useful when one section of the driving route on a motorway is followed by a section through a city that should be driven in pure electric mode without local emissions. In the e-charge mode, the internal combustion engine charges the battery by load point shifting, while satisfying rational energy management criteria.
As a plug-in hybrid, the fluid-cooled lithium-ion battery is not only charged while driving; it can also be externally charged within 2.5 hours (depending on the power supply) via a charging interface on the vehicle. Porsche systematically thought through all aspects of the concept car’s plug-in system; it utilizes a universal charger (AC) that is wall-mounted in a home garage and has a standardized charging plug.
Familiar and yet completely new: touch displays for instruments and controls
The interior of the Sport Turismo is a forward-looking interpretation of purist sports car thinking: as little as possible and as much as necessary. Instead of classic instruments, a large central TFT color display is positioned in front of the driver; it is used to call up and display any vehicle information as needed – from the tachometer to driving data or navigation. Two monitors, one to the left and one to the right of this display, show images from the “exterior mirror” cameras. Two additional displays in tube form provide information on the hybrid-specific driving states, e.g. pure electric driving, as well as other functions. The power meter in the instrument panel illuminates in Acid Green and shows the combined system power of the two drives.
A press on the touch-sensitive color display starts the e-hybrid. Naturally, on the side that is typical of a Porsche: the left side. A completely new type of touch display in the ascending center console incorporates additional controls; this is the control center for the e-hybrid and all other functions that is implemented in black panel technology. It offers the driver the option of influencing the hybrid drive via smart keys to choose maximum driving fun, maximum performance or maximum efficiency. All driving indicators and control functions are also intuitively operated by multi-touch functionality, such as automatic climate control, seat adjustment, lights, reversing camera and the functions of Porsche Communication Management (PCM).
Wide-ranging communications and control via smart phone app
The Panamera Sport Turismo gives the driver entirely new options for customized communications. The driver can use mobile online services to access and control all key vehicle information with a smart phone app. Charge control by mobile phone shows the user just how much electricity the battery has already stored at any given time and predicts how much more time the charging process will take. In addition, there is a charging timer with user-defined charging times. Moreover, the vehicle’s interior can also be preconditioned by mobile phone, e.g. by turning on the air conditioner, and the vehicle will already be at the right temperature before driving with electricity supplied from a household electrical outlet.

Porsche 918 Spyder Hits the Ring. The Nurburgring.

Some very exciting news came from Porsche within the past couple of days.  The 918 Spyder ran the Nordschleife, famous "Northern Loop" of the Nurburgring track in Germany in an astounding 7:14 minutes.  To put it in perspective, our previous flagship, the Carrera GT took a full 18 seconds longer to run the same track.  This time was also eight seconds faster than the goal Porsche had set for the time trial.  Stay tuned for more information as it comes.

Porsche Announces Cayenne S Diesel. But it's not for us.

Porsche AG today announced another great model for the Cayenne Lineup -- the new Cayenne S Diesel.  Unfortunately, we will not be seeing this car in the United Sates.  I guess we will only be able to day dream about this car.  I am a fan of diesels for the mixture of performance and fuel economy.  I love the Cayenne Diesel and can only imagine how much better this one would be.  If only.  What does the "S" bring to the table?  A Diesel fueled 4.2 Liter V8.  Specs are not announced yet but if they call it a Cayenne S, you know it's going to be a great car.  Stay tuned for details as they come.

Porsche is Taking their Interiors Seriously

A few days ago we received a phone call from our Porsche Cars, North America After-sales Manager saying he was in the Los Angeles area with some executives from the factory and was wondering if it was ok for them to stop by.  They were going to be having lunch in Beverly Hills and wanted to pay us a visit.  Several minutes later, I saw them pull up in their Cayenne S and ask to see all of our used Porsche's.  My curiosity got the best of me so I went out to see what this mysterious visit was all about. It turns out that the gentlemen that were visiting from Germany were some very high executives with Porsche AG.  They are the engineers in charge of the interiors of all of the Porsche cars and SUVs.  Along with them was their boss. The man who heads Porsche's interior design department. He controls the purchasing of all the materials that go into the interiors of our cars.  The purpose of their visit was to see how these materials age over time and what improvements can be made.  This is part of Porsche's commitment to out most quality and durability.  They could have sent anyone to look at these but these guys personally took the time to come out in the blazing heat and inspect each and every one of our used Porsche's just to see how their materials are holding up over time.
I spent a few minutes chatting with them and was blown away by the passion and commitment to their work. They asked me questions about my feelings and opinions regarding Porsche's new generation of interior design and quality and took my answers very seriously.
I always knew how passionate Porsche employees and engineers were about their work and our cars but seeing it first hand and talking to them personally gave me a completely new understanding of Porsche Passion.

The New Porsche Cayenne Diesel is Here

I finally drove the new Cayenne Diesel and I can honestly say this is by far the best SUV for the money.  That is, if you don't need your SUV to be one of the fastest cars on the road, in which case you would get a Cayenne Turbo.  For just a little more than a base Cayenne V6, you get the Diesel; which gives you substantially better fuel economy than the standard 6 cylinder and about 400 lb/ft of torque! This is not the fastest Cayenne you can get but I think it is the one that makes the most sense.  The power delivery is smooth and immediate, both off the line and while cruising at speed.  And with a fuel economy rating of 29mpg you get much better mileage than the V6 and the Hybrid!
Now for the diesel haters out there, you really need to listen to (and smell!) this car in person.  I don't think you would be able to tell this is a diesel from inside the car.  It is quiet and smooth and a real Porsche as far as driving dynamics go.  To sum it up, this thing is fun, fast and frugal while being environmentally friendly.  My Boxster really wants a Cayenne Diesel parked by it's side.

If you are interested in learning more about this or any of our cars feel free to contact me.  If you are in or near the Beverly Hills and West Los Angeles area or anywhere in Southern California, come visit us.

Click here to see the Cayenne Diesel in the Porsche website and here for Beverly Hills Porsche's website.