Porsche 928 to be reborn as Porsche Panamera Coupe

Porsche boss Matthias Mueller has revealed plans for new variants on the Porsche Panamera – including a Panamera Coupe – and more new models.

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We reported as long ago as 2009 that the Porsche Panamera would spawn more models, and in particular a two-door coupe that would be a Porsche 928 for the 21st century. And that’s exactly what’s happening.

Porsche boss, Matthias Mueller, has confirmed that Porsche are planning to extend the Panamera offerings with a coupe and probably a production version of the very convincing Panamera Sport Turismo Concept we saw at Geneva in the spring, although nothing has been signed off yet.

The most likely time for the Panamera Coupe and Shooting Brake to arrive is after Porsche refresh the Panamera next year, so we should expect a ‘new 928’ to arrive some time in 2014.

But it won’t be just the Panamera that gets variants, as it seems likely Porsche are going to pursue the ‘Pajun’ route with a smaller version of the Panamera to take on the BMW 5 Series et al. That too will doubtless follow VW’s favoured route of extracting as many variants as possible out of every core vehicle.

Also still in the mix is a new sports car to sit above the 911 and below the 918 – the Porsche 960 – which is designed to compete with cars like the Ferrari 458 and McLaren 12C and likely to be mid-engined with either a flat six or V8 delivering in the region of 600bhp.

Most of the world may be short of money at the moment, but it seems there’s enough to keep pushing Porsche sales ever upwards.