It could have gone better for the first four-door Porsche. But time was short and the board dissatisfied, therefore the Panamera was unlucky in the design, says design manager.
When it emerged, it was called the elephant. And although the first Panamera split the waters, it was such a great success that the model is still here.
But that does not change the fact that the first edition could well have been different. The designer behind the car, Michael Mauer, admits this in a new interview.
Mauer was brand new to the executive position at Porsche when the Panamera came out. In fact, the 'elephant' was the first car from the Zuffenhausen factory for which he had overall responsibility.
And based on Mauer's original concept drawings, it could have ended very differently for the first generation Panamera. The drawings show a low 911 with estate car shapes.
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The car that ended up on the assembly line looked somewhat different. And that was due, among other things, to time pressure, and that Porsche's board at the time was difficult to dance with.
Michael Mauer says so in an interview with 9Werks TV .
And while Mauer won't go into how he originally intended the car to look in the end, he admits that everything was 'not his idea'.
A number of compromises were made in order to maintain the trust of the board. And after all, Michael Mauer readily admits he didn't get the car the way he wants it. The board explained it to him.
– I can see exactly what I told you: that in some corners (on the car, ed.) I was not able to convince the board to do things in a different way.
– There are some corners where I look at the car and think: Oh, it could have been better, says Mauer today.
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