Believe it or not, it’s been four and a half years since Porsche first planted the idea of a Panamera wagon in the automotive world’s mind with the Sport Turismo Wagon Concept that debuted at the 2012 Paris Motor Show. In the interceding years, however, the carmaker has been happy to tease us with the idea of a Panamera Wagon reaching production—but while a facelift and a whole new second-generation Panamera both arrived, a five-door version was nowhere to be seen.
Until now, at least. On Wednesday, the carmaker finally gave that very, very small portion of the planet obsessed with fast wagons what it’s craved for so long: the production version of the Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo, making its debut at the Geneva Motor Show.
The “Wagon” in the name may have been left behind with the concept, but the Panamera Sport Turismo is very clearly that: a sleek, speedy-looking station wagon. The body has been redesigned around the new rear end from the B-pillar on back, with a new active spoiler integrated into the end of the roofline. At 105 miles per hour (or 56 mph in Sport or Sport Plus mode), the spoiler flips from an angle of –7 degrees to +1 degree, helping to glue the big Porsche to the ground at speed. And if the sunroof is open at speeds above 56 mph, it’ll pop all the way to 26 degrees upright in order to cut down on wind noise.
This Porsche may be a wagon, but it’s no replacement for a big SUV
Those aggressive lines don’t necessarily translate to much in the way of added cargo room, though. With the rear seats folded down and the car loaded to the roof, the wagon offers a whopping 1.77 cubic feet of additional space back there. Leave the back seats erect and fill the car up in the responsible German way (i.e. without blocking the view out the back), and it only amounts to an extra 0.7 cubic feet.
But those rear seats do bring with them a Panamera first: the Sport Turismo is the first Panamera to be able to seat five people. Assuming you don’t like one of them, that is; Porsche describes the back as a “2+1” setup, with the outboard locations designed as “individual seats.” Based on that description and the picture in the gallery below, we’d say reserve that fifth place for emergencies and small pets.
Apart from the body changes, the Panamera Sport Turismo’s specs should be pretty familiar to Porschephiles who are up to speed on the latest version of the sport sedan. The car will launch in the same five engine/trim choices currently available in the model, with the U.S. market behind able to choose between the four options we currently get: the base car, with a 330-horsepower a 2.9-liter turbocharged V6; the S, which uses the same engine tuned to 440 horsepower; the E-Hybrid, which pairs that engine to an electric motor and plug-in battery pack to whip up 462 hp; and the Turbo, which uses a 4.0-liter turbocharged V8 that makes 550 hp. (No word, sadly, on whether we’ll see a 680-hp Panamera Sport Turismo Turbo S hybrid.)
And yes, you read that correctly…
The Porsche Panamera Sport Turismo is coming to America.
Car nerds, you may now officially begin the celebration.