The luxurious and sporty Porsche Panamera has had an interesting journey. When it was first released, it was arguably one of the most polarizing cars of its era. You either loved the idea of a Porsche wagon or you thought it was the blasphemy of the highest order. Fast forward a few generations later, and the Panamera has quite the fan base. The anticipation is high as we await the grand reveal of the new Panamera, but in the meantime, Porsche is giving us a sneak peek of its interior.
If something looks familiar to you at first glance, it's because you're looking at the same "Porsche Driver Experience" digital dashboard from the familial Porsche Taycan EV. The cockpit features no less than three displays, including a 12.6-inch digital gauge screen for the driver, as well as a passenger screen that Porsche confirmed is not visible to the driver while driving.
The additional dedicated driver's display behind the steering wheel is split into three different sections, each configurable depending on settings chosen by the driver. An optional head-up display can be added to supplement the driver's screen, for a fourth monitor to look at if you so desire.
For those concerned that Porsche has gone overboard with touchscreens, worry not. There are still plenty of physical buttons, dials, and switches for those who prefer tactile interaction with their car's dashboard. Many of those buttons are on the steering wheel, including a dial to change driving modes. The gear selector has been moved from the center console and is now on the dashboard to the right of the steering wheel.
To ensure the Panamera always has the right vibes, Porsche has given it continuous ambient lighting along the entire dashboard panel for the first time. Unlike the updated Tesla models and other competitors, Porsche cleverly integrated the lighting into the panels to have a "bounce" effect off of the material surfaces, rather than an exposed light strip bugging your eyes. That's luxury.
While not mentioned here, it's noteworthy that Porsche's Sport Chrono Package (with the notable dashboard-mounted counter clock) is clearly featured on the third-gen Panamera shown in these new interior images. That would potentially mean upgraded transmission mounts, racing-derived gearshift programming, launch control mode, and the Sport Response boost function that offers a surge of increased power. We don't know if it's standard on all new third-gen Panameras or just an option, but we'll know more soon.
To keep things comfortable, Porsche is using a new foam material in the seats. That foam can be wrapped in a variety of two-tone color schemes with accents to match. Porsche hasn't detailed the available colors yet but did reveal that some colors can be chosen via the Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur program.
In another first, customers of the new Panamera have the option of leather-free materials, including Race-Tex and Pepita fabric.
Getting an early look at the new Panamera's interior is a treat, but if we're being honest, we are ready to see much more. For example, the images also clearly show what looks to be an updated operating system for Porsche, likely Google/Android-based, that we are eager to learn more about. Fortunately, we won't have to wait much longer. The new Porsche Panamera is set to make its debut on November 24th, 2023, where we'll have a full breakdown of the saloon's new interior and technology suite, as well as some of its new chassis tech for the third-gen car, so stay tuned.
