What's the news?
Porsche is adding an estate version of the Panamera to its line-up, this model hinted at by a 2012 concept of similar stature. Its official name is the Sport Turismo and it will make its debut at the Geneva Motor Show.
Exterior
The rather obvious talking point here is the roofline aft of the B-pillars, which - instead of descending to the sloping rear of the regular Panamera - now stays nice and high to the tail of the Sport Turismo. At 5,049mm long and 1,937mm wide, its dimension are the same as the regular Panamera, although it is slightly taller at 1,428mm (+5mm). It has a wheelbase of 2,950mm and sits on wheels of up to 21 inches in diameter, while at the back is what Porsche calls the 'first adaptively extendible roof spoiler in the segment' - this has three stages, depending on the driving situation.
Up to 170km/h, the aerodynamic guide element remains retracted with an angle of minus-seven degrees, to reduce drag and boost fuel consumption. Above 170km/h, it switches to an angle of plus-one degree, developing up to an additional 50kg of downforce on the rear axle. If you have the car in Sport or Sport Plus modes, the spoiler moves to the performance position above 90km/h, while it will also shift to an angle of 26 degrees (again, above 90km/h) if the panoramic roof is open, to reduce turbulence and wind noise in the cabin. Clever stuff, and overall the Panamera Sport Turismo is a good-looking contrivance that should give the erstwhile-on-its-own Mercedes-Bens CLS Shooting Brake plenty to consider.
Interior
Porsche promises extra practicality as the Sport Turismo has a large, powered tailgate, low boot loading sill (it's 628mm off the deck) and a bigger luggage compartment (naturally), as well as what it is tagging '4+1' seating. As all Panameras are four-seaters normally, this might sound like quite a boon, but in essence the two outer chairs in the back row are still sculpted as individual seats - it's just the centre bench bit now comes with a seatbelt, although we're guessing not many people would want to be in the '+1' pew for long. Alternatively, you can just have the Sport Turismo with two electrically adjustable seats in the rear as an option, with Porsche saying all variants have increased headroom and easier ingress/egress than the saloon Panamera.
In terms of the actual luggage compartment, it's not actually that much bigger than the saloon, the Sport Turismo climbing 20 litres with all seats in place and 50 litres with the 40:20:40 split rear seats folded down. That leaves you with figures of 520- and 1,390 litres accordingly, although if you pick the hybrid Panamera Sport Turismo, its electrical magubbins means those numbers necessarily decrease to 425- and 1,295 litres.
Porsche says the Sport Turismo benefits from all the same interior innovations introduced with the second-generation Panamera launched in 2016, including items such as the Porsche Advanced Cockpit and the Porsche InnoDrive adaptive cruise control.
Mechanicals
The Sport Turismo will be available with five engines lifted from the Panamera range at launch, although it's worth pointing out that - because Stuttgart markets this as the practical car of the range, and also presumably because it thinks we're all lifestyle types and avid skiers who go to the Alps every winter - all these estate models have Porsche Traction Management (PTM) four-wheel drive. So, we have the Panamera 4 E-Hybrid Sport Turismo (462hp, and it'll be the entry point of our range for pricing, due to a quirk in Irish tax laws favouring hybrids), the Panamera 4 Sport Turismo (330hp), the Panamera 4S Sport Turismo (440hp), the Panamera 4S Diesel Sport Turismo (422hp) and the Panamera Turbo Sport Turismo - this last one packing a whopping 550hp.
Porsche will further offer items like adaptive three-chamber air suspension on the S models, rear-axle steering and Porsche Dynamic Chassis Control (PDCC Sport) electronic roll stabilisation. In terms of fuel returns, expect 9.4 litres/100km (30.1mpg) and 215g/km CO2 from the Turbo, with 6.7 litres/100km (42.2mpg) and 176g/km from the 4S Diesel, while the Hybrid stands alone with 2.5 litres/100km (113mpg) and 56g/km CO2.
Anything else?
No Irish pricing is yet confirmed but the Sport Turismo commands a premium over the saloon Panamera in other markets, so expect the same here. As a yardstick, for the four-door cars, the Panamera 4 starts at €117,830, the 4 E-Hybrid from €110,321 and the mighty Turbo at about €203,000; the Sport Turismo will therefore be in excess of these figures. The car is available to order now, with first deliveries commencing from October 7.
"For Porsche, the Panamera Sport Turismo is a step forwards into a new segment, but retains all of those values and attributes that are characteristic of Porsche," said Michael Mauer, director of Style for Porsche.