Porsche Panamera Cabriolet Revealed In Patent Application: Four Doors Given The Nod

PORSCHE’S MUCH-RUMOURED Panamera Cabriolet has been inadvertently revealed via patent applications submitted in the US and Europe.

Although the simple line drawings don’t show a complete car with the roof in place (or with wheels, for that matter), they do indicate that Porsche is pressing ahead with a roofless version of its four-door performance car.

Previous rumours of a Panamera Cabrio had Porsche cutting the wheelbase and creating a two-door convertible out of the Panamera’s four-seater chassis. A logical route, given the considerable challenge of maintaining chassis stiffness in a four-door cabriolet.

However new construction techniques and materials have enabled Porsche to press ahead with the more distinctive four-door design. When it arrives, Porsche will be the only manufacturer with a four-door convertible performance car in its inventory.

According to the patent application, overall length appears to be similar to the Panamera hardtop but the windscreen frame is lower and more steeply raked.

Interior size should be the same as the hardtop, but boot space will likely be seriously compromised when the conventional fabric roof is stowed.

Technical specifications have yet to be revealed. It remains uncertain whether the Panamera Cabrio’s roofless chassis will be able to handle the torque of the range-topping Turbo’s twin-turbocharged V8.

A launch date is unknown too, but the existence of Porsche’s patent application sends a clear message: the Panamera Cabriolet is happening, and that it will be in a class of its own when it arrives.