2017 Porsche Panamera range-starters jump in price, spec and performance

Porsche Australia has announced prices of $210,000 and $220,400 for the new base rear-wheel-drive and all-wheel-drive versions of the four-door – respective lifts of $5800 and $4000 over the outgoing originals.

The Panamera and Panamera 4 borrow a 3.0-litre turbocharged V6 from the Audi S4/S5 range to bring both improved power – up 15kW to 243kW – and economy – down 1.0L/100km to 7.6 litres per 100km (S 7.8L/100km).

Standard features include plenty of highlights, such as adaptive air suspension, four-zone climate control, radar-controlled cruise, 14-way electric front seats, Porsche Communications Management, panoramic sunroof, and Apple CarPlay.

The base Porsche Panamera is due in the second quarter of 2017, along with a $312,100 4S Diesel. The Panamera S is scheduled for the following quarter.

The first of the new Panameras to land in Australia will be the $304,000 4S and $376,000, 404kW Turbo, in Q1.

Q3 will see the addition of the S plus the $242,600 4 E-Hybrid that provides official combine fuel consumption of just 2.1L/100km.

Porsche will also unveil four longer-wheelbase Executive variants alongside the new V6s at the upcoming 2016 Los Angeles motor show, none of which will be offered in Australia.

The Executive models add 150mm to the Panamera’s standard 3100mm wheelbase to generate extra rear legroom for chauffeur-oriented markets such as China and North America.

They are available with a latest-generation, tablet-style Rear Seat Entertainment system, which also won’t be available locally as an option “until a later stage when the features are developed for the local market”.

Porsche Australia says it already has 40 confirmed orders for the new Panamera – almost matching the 42 units it has sold so far in 2016, to the end of October.