Adam2S

OMG! I’ve just noticed the Panamera is available to configure online on the UK site now and what a colour range!

Just in case you didn’t think the car was already in the visually challenged category Porsche in their infinite wisdom have chosen to release it in a range of such beautiful colours as :

Yachting Blue
Topaz Brown
Mahogany
Crystal Green
Amethyst

Check out the colours in the configurator for yourself - they are truely as hideous as their dubious names imply! Perhaps more honest names would have been :

Yachting Blue - Toilet Seat Blue
Topaz Brown - Baby Poo
Mahogany - Adult Poo
Crystal Green - Toilet Seat Green
Amethyst - Nasty Bruise

dertub

Yeah, horrible. The colors combined with the looks of the car nearly guarantee that it will only be sold to people who don't care much about 911s for sure.

Master Deep

U.S. site is up. Wow $170k for the Panamera turbo I configured. And roughly $130k for the N/A V8's.

ltc

If the shoe fits.....the colors seem appropriate for the POS

OldGuy

Geesh Porsche is making this car too serious. Its like when Lexus first came out with their
98 GS 300/400 it was avaiable in these colors
Granite Black Metallic
Black
Cyber Grey( a lighter black)
Nome Beach sand Pearl (another black)
Pearl white
LeMans White
Egg shell yellow (white)
Off white Metallic
Desert Sand Biege (off white)

I guess these guys are thinking they are more mature with serene colors? It appeals to a more
refined customer?

TrackDays247.com

IMO the Panamera *needs* some fun colors - it actually virtually requires some color to make it visually interesting!

Carrera GT

At those price points, the paint is irrelevant. Why on Earth pursue Maserati and Aston Martin into those niche price ranges?

Surely even the most impulsive "first kid on the block" can anticipate the cheaper models, the six-cylinder, the diesel, the hybrid, all coming in at the middle of the Cayenne price range.

Porsche doesn't make too many mistakes (other this colossal blunder) so I guess they're set up to build maybe 5000 of these things for the US market for 2010? And surely they have to take the tools and dies -- spread the R&D costs out -- and build the thing with a VW and an Audi variant just like the Cayenne.

This is an ugly car, an ugly business and it's getting uglier with each step. I hope they can build the next RS before they announce plans to build full-size pickups in Mexico.

PogueMoHone

^
You may not like it, but ugly it isn't and it is not a POS either.

I will wait to see how it drives before I move it from the "undecided" to "decided" column (pun intended).

The pricing seems to be inline with the Cayenne Turbo and other high end cars AMG, Maserati etc. and it is hardly Porsche's fault that our $ is a true POS!

MJSpeed

^I've seen it first hand and it's ugly!

The beginning of the end for ol' Wendelin, IMHO

Carrera GT

I wouldn't construe "ugly" as "POS" and I do appreciate your firsthand experience (and perhaps more objective standpoint.)

For me, the price is prohibitive. In the context of the US luxury four seat market, the Panamessa point point is so far out of range, it's just silly.

I have an '05 Cayenne "Power Kit" Turbo with a factory sticker of US$120K. That's an "everything" Cayenne that has the same space, more horsepower and less dollars. Unless they put 520 hp in the Panablanda Turbo from day one. Doesn't seem too likely. And the Cayenne wins hands down on practicality with load space and off-road.

Aside from "first kid on the block" and Porsche brand loyalty, I just don't see how a buyer can justify the price premium and the inevitable depreciation. This is a $100-180K +/- sedan that will surely lose 50% in two years. That's awfully expensive motoring.

Back to "ugly." When the Cayenne arrived, believe it or not, at first blush, I kind of thought it was "okay" ... it didn't hold a candle to the Range Rover, but it was okay. After a while, I really started to dislike its appearance. Then, after a couple of years (circa '05) I grew accustomed to its less than wholly unacceptable appearance. And I needed a medium sized SUV. If the same sequence unfolds with the Panablunda, I expect I'll demo drive each new version and borrow one from the local dealer from time to time for the next two years, then they'll bring out the hybrid diesel version and have all the "early" bugs out. My wife will enjoy driving it, but she already dislikes looking at it. Much the same with the Cayenne. Both cars will be relatively safe places to have our two kids. I could see myself picking up the diesel-hybrid version circa 2012 (assuming the world does not end that year as predicted.)

mikey175

Hey, if you're dumb enough to blow $130-180K for a sedan, why not check the paint-to-sample box too? This thing would loook smoking hot with a vinyl half-roof.

Carrera GT

Vinyl roof. Got to admit a laugh semi-stifled out loud ... Lewis Black couldn't have put it better.

Cupcar#12

wait i coulda hand an M5 and $30k to buy stock in GM!!
should i change my order

<just kidding, but bad timing for something like this in this ecomomic climate>

ltc

I certainly hope so.

Boeing 717

Yea, and one that will lose 70 percent of its value in the first 3 years.

Are you guys gonna punch me if i say that i do kinda like it though???