First Porsche saloon finally unveiled

Porsche has released more details of its four-door Panamera.

It's still nine months before the first four-door Porsche saloon goes on sale, but finally we have a set of decent official photographs of the Panamera and some preliminary details to report.

Having been bombarded with spy shots, design renderings and speculation, the overall shape of the Panamera comes of no surprise and first impressions are that it is certainly striking, if not conventionally pretty.

No shots of the interior were released, but Porsche has revealed that the new car will accommodate four occupants in individual sports seats and that the rears will fold to allow room for more luggage.

A wide range of models and engines will become available, with V6 and V8 engines already confirmed for production, ranging from 300- to 500bhp.

Porsche has confirmed that a hybrid version of the Panamera is in development, while it's expected that a diesel variant will also be put into production.

The Panamera will be the fourth model range from the Porsche brand when it is launched at the Geneva Motor Show in March. The first examples will reach dealers by the end of the summer in 2009.

Shane O' Donoghue