Frankfurt - With carmakers struggling for sales amid global recession, Porsche's new Panamera sports saloon could hardly have come at a worst time. The Panamera weighed in officially at the Shanghai auto fair earlier this year but the five-door hatchback is one of the big stars at the Frankfurt Motor Show being held in Germany's financial capital from September 17-27.
The market success of the new Porsche is vital for the future of the iconic German marque after a year of turmoil and uncertainty, marked by a takeover drama and a sharp fall in sales.
Porsche is now merging with Volkswagen AG after the financial crisis forced managers at the Stuttgart-based company to abandon their own takeover plan for VW. Porsche also accumulated a massive debt of 10 billion euros (14.2 billion dollars) in trying to build up a majority stake in Volkswagen.
The Wolfsburg-based union will create a powerful automotive force to be reckoned with but Porsche's core sports and luxury car business is currently in the doldrums.
Sales of the heavyweight Cayenne off-roader in the United States dropped by 72 cent in June of this year and both the 911 and Cayman sports cars are finding less favour with customers at home and abroad.
Even Porsche's reputation has suffered. Thirty per cent of 500 would-be car buyers in Germany questioned in a survey by canvasser Brand Control said the image of the marque had been tarnished by the merger. The saga involved a power struggle between the VW chairman Ferdinand Piech and the Porsches, two of Germany's oldest industrial families.
Despite the gloomy news on the showroom front, Porsche says it aims to sell 20,000 Panameras a year. The sleek, new car went on sale in Germany this month with a price tag of 95,575 euros for the entry-level S model. It is powered by a 4.8-litre V8 engine turning out 400 horsepower.
The all-wheel-drive version is a tad faster and there is a turbocharged Panamera which sets a breathtaking 0 to 60 (0 to 100 km/h) time of 4 seconds and clocks a top speed of 188 mph.
The Panamera is a grand tourer aimed squarely at affluent buyers who want a large performance car with power, good roadholding and a luxurious interior with ample room for back-seat passengers. The new car also competes head-on with sporting limousines offered by premium German makers BMW and Mercedes-Benz and Italy's Maserati.
"We see this as the right car coming at the right time," said 48-year-old Porsche chief Michael Macht who took over from Wendelin Wiedeking last month. "A crisis offers an opportunity."
Porsche has spent 1 billion euros on developing the only front-engined, rear-wheel drive car in the range which is assembled at a high-tech plant in the eastern city of Leipzig.
Macht hails the Leipzig factory as a triumph of what manufacturers call "lean production," a method of producing cars which is designed to maximise efficiency and minimise the waste of resources and labour. He has been with Porsche since 1990 and is regarded as being a logistics expert.
"Besides Leipzig I do not know of any other factory in the world which makes better use of the principles of lean production," Macht told journalists who toured the facility.
But what of the car itself? Motoring journalists who have driven the Panamera are impressed by the sportster which is as quick off the mark as a Porsche needs to be. The sports saloon also handles well for a car of such large dimensions.
Despite the sporting silhouette, opinions are divided about the car's appearance. Some say the Panamera looks bulky compared to the elegant sportscars on which the company's reputation is based. Porsche admits that initial press photographs did not do justice to the design.
According to road testers from German motoring magazine auto motor und sport, the Panamera is a dynamic newcomer which richly deserves to carry the antlers and rampant black horse emblem of the marque: "Fans can breathe a sigh of relief - this car is a real Porsche," they concluded.
