Today’s launch of the new Porsche Panamera is a timely reminder that Porsche is no stranger to controversy. It is happiest pursuing mechanical layouts others deem impossible, turning gamekeeper and buying Volkswagen outright, and laughing in the face of cynics who deplore Porsche-badged off-roaders. The new Panamera sports saloon is going to reignite plenty more controversy, trust us.

Porsche today issues seven photographs and the full official story of the new Panamera, ahead of its motor show launch in spring 2009. The first cars will hit dealers’ floors in late summer 2009, when they’ll vie for the attention of buyers considering an upper-class Mercedes S-class, BMW 7-series or Maserati Quattroporte. It’s a lofty ambition from Porsche.

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The Panamera is doing development time in Seoul, South Korea. In a city where it seems everyone has a cell phone camera, it’s no wonder that someone caught it on film. This time it appears to be wearing nothing more than a blue paint job and some pre-production panel gaps while filling up at a gas station. We know our opinion has swung on this car - first we didn’t like it, and then we kinda did - but for now we’re holding steady. It still looks better from the front than the rear, but this car is going to sell. Follow the jump to watch the video, and to our South Korean readers, there is a blue intruder among you, so please get him on video again and report to us… Thanks for the tip, Gabriel!

It’s not like Porsche has done a very good job keeping the Panamera, its upcoming four-door sports sedan coupe, a secret. We’ve seen more spy shots of the Panamera undergoing testing than pics of Britney doing something unseemly in public, and that’s a lot. But rather than just show us the final production form of the Panamera, the name of which is now officially followed by “Gran Turismo”, Porsche has decided to do a full blown marketing roll out using the just launched Panamera Online Magazine as the medium through which we’ll see the production Panamera bit by bit. The first issue is out and contains a few not-very-revealing sketches of the car as well as an image that will be used in upcoming advertisements in which the Panamera peeks its nose out of a garage. Unfortunately, the front end of the car looks pretty much like every other Porsche. Nevertheless, the roll out has begun and sooner rather than later we’ll be able to pass judgment on Porsche’s first four-door passenger car. Porsche says the Panamera’s official debut is scheduled for next spring (probably the Geneva Motor Show in March), with sales to commence in late summer or early fall of 2009.

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For those of you who might never get the chance to drive a new Porsche 911, there’s an ersatz experience available now online. Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) says with its latest refresh, it’s enabled visitors to their site to draw their own roads and then “drive” on the virtual asphalt they’ve created.

Like lots of other manufacturer sites, Porsche’s own Web home now lets oglers re-skin a car in all of its optional colors and view it from all angles in a 360-degree spin, so that those fantasies can take on a Technicolor hue.

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Porsche’s commitment to the KISS philosophy of exterior design won’t extend to the engine of the facelifted 911 Turbo, GT2 and GT3 when they’re released early next year. All three models will dispatch with the legendary M97 powerplant in favor of the new, direct-injected A91 flat-six that’s equipped on the recently updated 911 Carrera.

The two turbocharged 911s will be packing 3.6-liters of displacement, with a 97 mm bore and an 81.5 mm stroke (the outgoing engine was sized 100 mm x 76.4 mm), along with revised turbochargers and intercoolers. Autocar’s sources suggest that output on both models will rise by around 20 hp, with the Turbo producing 500 hp and the GT2 pushing out approximately 550 hp. Torque figures should also increase by around four percent.
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