Next Porsche Panamera Ditches Buttons in Favor of Touch Controls

When the all-new Porsche Panamera arrives later this year, it will no longer feature the mess of small buttons that litter the current model’s center console. As these spy photos show, the new Panamera’s interior will instead make extensive use of stylish touch-capacitive controls.
Porsche Panamera Spied Interior 1

Though we’ve often criticized automakers for using touch-sensitive controls instead of regular buttons, there’s no denying the slick look of this Porsche Panamera interior. Whereas the old car had a huge array of buttons that reminded us of a Motorola flip phone keyboard, the new one instead has white icons with red illumination on a gloss-black trim piece around the shifter. The car also now has a drive-select switch on its three-spoke steering wheel, as well as larger touchscreen infotainment system with a series of touch-sensitive mode buttons on its left-hand side. The instrument cluster now has color screens on both sides, not just to the right of the tachometer as in today’s Panamera.

Porsche Panamera Spied Touchscreen1

The next-gen Porsche Panamera will ride on Volkswagen Group’s new MSB modular platform, which is also set to be shared with the future Bentley Continental, Flying Spur, and Mulsanne, as well as the next Audi A8. With a front-mid engine arrangement and both rear- and all-wheel-drive layouts possibly, the platform should have improved weight balance compared to the current Panamera.

AUTOMOBILE European bureau chief Georg Kacher reports the Porsche Panamera will offer a twin-turbo 4.0-liter V-8 engine with as much as 600 hp in Turbo models. There will also be a hybrid, plus a twin-turbo 2.9-liter V-6. The car was also expected to offer two turbodiesel engines, though it remains to be seen whether Volkswagen’s diesel emissions scandal has affected those plans. We also expect to see a Panamera Shooting Brake, inspired by the Panamera Sport Turismo concept, by 2019.

Look for the new Porsche Panamera to make its public debut later this year.

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