Road rage

New Delhi, Aug. 10: Sports car maker Porsche plans to roll out its Panamera sedan in 2009. The company expects this launch to catapult its sales here from 180 sports cars a year to 700-800.

The four-door, four-seater car, which is likely to cost more than Rs 70 lakh, will be launched simultaneously in India, Japan and countries in Europe and North America.

Next year, a greener version of the sedan, which will have a hybrid system with parallel engines driven by petrol and electricity, may be unveiled.

“Our research shows that India is basically a sedan market, which is why we are keen to hit the road with the Panamera,” said Ashish Chordia, chief executive officer of Porsche Cars India.

“We see the millionaires of the country as our potential customers for these sedans,” Chordia added.

Chordia, while refusing to confirm the launch of a hybrid Panamera, said: “We have plans for hybrid engines. If such engines are made, they will be launched in India along with the rest of the world.”

Porsche, which has just two dealers in Delhi and Mumbai, wants to extend its network to Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Calcutta and Pune before the launch.

“We want to appoint dealers before the sedan is launched. We sell the Cayennes, Carreras and Boxsters. We expect the sale of these cars to continue strongly ... but the Panamera will constitute half of the 700-800 cars we expect to sell by 2009-10,” Chordia said.

The Panamera will be a rear-wheel drive sedan with the engine at the front. It will be powered by a modified version of the 4.5-litre V8 found in the Cayenne and equipped with a fuel stratified injection system developed by Volkswagen. Base models will be engineered with a 3.6-litre V6 found in the upcoming 2008 new-look Cayenne.

The sedan is expected to take on the Mercedes S and CLS as well as the Masserati Quattorporte. It will also compete to a lesser extent with the Bentley Continental GT and the Aston Martin Rapide.

Unlike Mercedes, Porsche does not have plans to set up assembly lines in India. “It is a global policy to have just one production centre in Germany,” Chordia said.