Car News Articles

There are claims Porsche’s Panamera four-door saloon has exceeded explosive internal targets designed to produce the world’s most lethal and comfortable limousine.

Parameters set by Porsche pitch the Panamera as the leader in performance and comfort.

Some company insiders say it will blow the competition wide open and set a new level for the luxury/limousine segment.

Final development testing suggests the Panamera has equalled or exceeded all of its mission statements.

Production is set to begin within a year and it is likely to arrive in Australia in late 2009.

Specification levels for the Panamera, which is set to be unveiled at the Paris Auto Salon in November, and engine choices have not yet been defined for Australia. The early prediction is for about 150 units to be sold here each year.

But if Porsche was serious about making a footprint on sales of rival German premium saloons it would start the range with the entry level V6. That would enable it to fight with Mercedes-Benz, Audi and BMW in the $180,000-plus price range.

A V8 and a twin turbo V8 are also under development along with a hybrid version.

The Panamera is principally set to target rival German long-wheel-base luxo saloons, the BMW 7-series, Audi A8 and Mercedes-Benz S-Class. Porsche is not acknowledging, at this stage at least, Aston Martin’s forthcoming Rapide four-door saloon as a rival.

Jan-Peter Hoffmeister, Porsche’s transmission and drivetrain specialist, says the V10-powered BMW M5 was benchmarked for performance along with the Maserati Quattroporte while the Mercedes-Benz CLS was referenced for comfort.

“We simply want to be the best in driving dynamics and driving comfort,” he said.

No one from Porsche would commit to acknowledging that the well-received PDK double-clutch transmission has been used in development testing on the Panamera.

 

- The Mercury

Here’s another hatch that Europe gets to tease the U.S. with. Renault has not been bringing cars to the United States for almost 20 years now. In that time they’ve put out some cars we may wish we’d had, including this new Renault Sport Twingo. The new car is based on the everyday Twingo, but it is given a 1.6-liter engine that puts out 133 horsepower. That kind of power in a tiny car combined with a sport chassis can make for a cool little car. If the car were sold here, the current exchange rate would put the price at around $23,000.

Enjoy some video of performance driver training given by Renault. The French company offers a training school for new owners for the reasonable price of €1.

Press release after the jump.

Toyota Financial Services recently leaped over GMAC Financial services to take the lead as the biggest U.S. auto lender in terms of loan and lease contract volume. The study by AutoCount (a unit of the Experian Automotive company) estimates that Toyota captured 6.35% of the market from January through June, while GMAC had 6.2% for a close second place. Rounding out the top five were Chase Auto Finance, American Honda Finance, and Ford Credit (in that order).

As GMAC has made major cutbacks in leasing over the summer, many industry experts expect Toyota to hold its lead through the end of the year. A spokesperson from GMAC was quick to point out that the study did not include two wholly owned subsidiaries: Nuvel Credit and National Auto Finance. When those two companies are included, GMAC’s share increases to 6.72 percent — effectively placing them at the top again. While the automakers battle for the title position, the independent banks are the ones to watch. They’ve been steadily increasing their lending share as the Detroit 3 struggle with the rising costs of funds and declining credit ratings.

[Source: Automotive News, subs. req’d]