Porsche unveils the new Panamera

Since its founding in 1931, Porsche has been synonymous with speed. And while that still holds true, the brand has spent the past decade attempting to make its vehicles more family-friendly.

In 2009, Porsche rolled out the Panamera, a full-size luxury car, weighing nearly 4,000 pounds, with four doors and an engine mounted in the front. Which is say, a vehicle that was unlike anything else the Porsche family. Many thought it would fail. It didn’t; 150,000 Panameras have been sold, and the company had its most profitable year ever in 2014. Banking on its success, yesterday, at an event in Berlin, Porsche unveiled its second-generation Panamera.

The latest version still has four doors and an engine near the front of the car. What makes the the 2017 Panamera different is that it’s more beautifully designed and faster. “The new Panamera is a perfect example of how we can make a vehicle in this segment even more sporty,” Porsche exterior designer Peter Varga said in a statement. And, for the new Panamera, that sportiness begins with the rear of the car, where the designers went to great lengths mimicking the mold of Porsche’s iconic 911 model. The new Panamera’s rear is much wider than its predecessor’s, giving the appearance of a sports car rather than a traditional sedan. From the back moving forward, the roof curves upward, again echoing the look of successful older models. The front of the vehicle features large air intakes that give the car an athletic aesthetic while reducing wind drag.