Porsche To Share Panamera Platform With Other VW Brands

STUTTGART, Germany — Porsche's new Panamera platform will now be shared with another Volkswagen Group brand as a direct consequence of its takeover by VW, company sources tell Inside Line.

Previously, independent Porsche had no intention of sharing the platform with other marques, but the company's integration into the VW Group has seen that decision reversed.

Our source would not be drawn on which brand that is, other than to say that it will not be Lamborghini, which could potentially have used it to produce a showroom version of its four-door Estoque concept car.

That leaves Bentley, Bugatti and possibly Audi as theoretical customers for the new rear-/four-wheel-drive, four-seater platform.

For Bentley, it could provide a new platform with which to replace the Continental GT, although the substantial differences in the heights of the Continental and the Panamera could make it unsuitable, and the British company may already have selected Audi's lightweight aluminium MLB structure as part of its campaign to reduce weight (the Panamera's platform is steel).

For Bugatti, Porsche's platform offers the possibility of a front-engined model of either two or four doors, but while a five-door GT model might provide a complement to Audi's successful R8 supercar, the Panamera's steel structure and the substantial market overlap between these models are likely to rule it out for Ingolstadt.

As for the Panamera itself, which will not be replaced when it dies in 2017, according to the UK's Car Magazine, next developments include the introduction of gasoline V6 engines derived from the company's V8 in 2010, and a hybrid version in 2011. A diesel model is unlikely, say insiders, the large-capacity, high-performance V8 and V10 diesels offered by German rivals finding too few buyers to warrant a Porsche offering.

Inside Line says: VW plans to maximize the potential of the all-new Panamera platform before it is deleted from Porsche's lineup in 2017. — Richard Bremner, Correspondent