Porsche today unveiled the luxury saloon Panamera here at its Mumbai dealer showroom this morning. The event was attended by a few selected auto journalists handpicked by Porsche and IAB was proudly a part of that lot.
Mr Rod Wallace, MD of Precision Cars India (PCI) the Indian wing of Porsche, Mr Allan Marriage Technical Head of PCI explained to the press the development of the Panamera through a audio-visual presentation. Following that, the car was unveiled sending the crowd into a frenzy.
Later IAB managed to have a one to one with Mr Allen Marriage who said that India is turning into a hot spot for performance vehicles and he was looking forward to more sports car makers foraying into the country.
IAB also managed to chit chat with Mr Rod Wallace who stated that already 13 Panameras have been booked before the launch and they expected to surpass the target of 50 cars for this year easily. Three new dealers with fully equipped service stations will soon begin operating in Chennai, Ludhiana and Bangalore.
Mr Wallace said the Panamera is a “Super Luxury car” which also happens to have all the traits of a sports car. He claimed the genes of the 911 were buried deep in it and was responsible for the 4.3 second 0-100 run!
Porsche Panamera prices in India ex-showroom inclusive of VAT and duties
Panamera S:
Ex Delhi : Rs. 1,41,74,000
Rest of India: Rs. 1,44,36,000
Panamera 4S:
Ex Delhi: Rs. 1,47,11,000
Rest of India: Rs. 1,49,83,000
Panamera Turbo:
Ex Delhi: Rs. 2,01,84,000
Rest of India: Rs. 2,05,58,000
click through to read the detailed press release
The Indian debut of the Porsche Panamera takes place on the 1st of next month in the country’s financial capital. Though the prices or the trim levels have not been confirmed, it is widely believed that the base model will set you back by a cool 1.4 crore rupees.
As we reported earlier, Porsche has a target of 50 Panameras this year and the company has already managed to convince 13 buyers to book one even before its official unveiling.
We’ll bring you more information and high resolution photographs from the launch floor on October 1st, so stay tuned.
Porsche announced earlier this year that the Panamera would be in India in 2009, but won’t be cheap. The cheapest Panamera would cost only 1.4 crore rupees, a reason for 13 customers to book their cars already!
Ranging from a whopping Rs 1.4 crore to a err..whopping two crore, the 4-door “family man’s” supercar would be launched by October 3. However, 13 Panameras have already been booked in India.
Rod Wallace, managing director of Precision Cars India, official importer of the Porsche range of cars -
“In 2007, we sold around 168 units while in 2008 it was 150..however with the Panamera we are hoping to reach 225 over the next 12 month period”
click through for Porsche Panamera interior and exterior image gallery
If you can put up with the orchestra playing in the background, this is as good as you’ll ever see it. The Porsche Panamera driving footage brings out the unmistakably crisp and fluent road presence it gathers once in motion and I needn’t work my brain to come up with exactly what I felt after I’m done watching the video.
And the final few seconds show the dashboard, central instruments, buttons and gauges. I think the finest German artists and sculptors worked full time with Porsche to create such an effect.
As India awaits the arrival of the Porsche Panamera, rumors are doing rounds in the international automobile arena on a possible Porsche Panamera convertible.
The Porsche Panamera convertible is very much possible since Porsche’s spent a lot of money building the car. The Panamera’s also rumored to shed two doors to take the form of a coupe variant. It’s not possible to suggest any more details at this time, so we’ll keep you updated if we hear more.
click through for Image Gallery
Car manufacturers in India are reeling in the wake of the economic crisis, but none of them intend to give it up anytime soon. Every car maker has its own strategy to deal with poor sales numbers which according to Auto experts continue till the end of this year for many.
Car makers know one thing- You can excite customers and bring them to showrooms only if you have something new to boast of. Listed here are nine glitzy cars that promise to draw the map to car dealerships for customers in India.
