Howdy Webriders! Dr. VW here again for our weekly foreign Friday chat! This week we’re going to talk about one my favorite, if controversial, new cars to come out of the fatherland. Porsche isn’t known for making many changes to their vehicles. Oftentimes their luxury sports coupes go years without any real overhauls. Just take a look at the article our own JackTsu wrote about the 911. However when Porsche decides to mix things up, it really makes a statement. Their Cayenne SUV has been a hit amongst rich soccer moms, although everyone else seems to think of it as a travesty. Hit the jump to find out what Porsche has cooked up next!

The Porsche Panamera

First, as usual, a little history lesson. In the early 90’s the chief of R&D at Porsche was a man named Ulrich Bez. He left Porsche around that time partially over disagreements with the board of directors over the development of the 989, a 4 door sedan prototype. Although the 989 never saw production, it would provide a dusty blueprint a decade later for the Panamera, Porsche’s first production 4 door sedan.

The Panamera, set for release in 2010, is arguably one of the strangest good looking cars ever designed. From the front and back it’s all Porsche, but from the sides… it looks as though someone took a Carrera and stretched it into a proper sedan; Motor Trend’s “gotta have cars” section had the newest prototype spyshots. However the trick here is that lines are retained, and the body still flows like a proper Porsche. Current R&D chief Wolfgang Durheimer has promised that the body lines aren’t the only thing thats going to stay true to the Porsche name, promising that performance will not be noticeably affected by the added weight. The Panamera will probably run a modified version of the Cayenne’s 3.6L V6, leaving the door open for a Porsche hybrid sedan… an interesting and revolutionary concept.

Now, the fact that the Panamera is being made at all is news in of itself, but there is an ironic twist to the story that made the news all the more interesting. Porsche was stunned when Ulrich Bez, now chief at Aston Martin, announced the plans in 2006 for a production 4 door Aston Martin sedan; the Rapide. It appears as though Ulrich never quite got over his denial at Porsche, and decided his revenge would be to produce a car that would compete directly with the Panamera. Ulrich has gone so far as to claim that the DB9 based Rapide will beat the Panamera into production! Now there’s a good old fashioned European showdown. It looks like WW3 might just be on the way for the automotive world… Do I smell shootout material?

Hope you guys enjoyed that juicy bit of sports car drama. Make sure to swing by the Forums and join in on the discussion. This is Dr. VW- out.