The Real Reason Why Porsche Took So Long To Give Us A Four-Door Sedan

The Porsche 989 was to be an evolution of the 928

In 1977, Porsche introduced its first-ever V8-powered two-door sports car, the 928, which was meant to replace the 911. Despite the front-engine, rear-wheel-drive coupe being sold alongside Porsche’s rear-engine sports car for 18 years, from 1977 to 1995, the 928 never managed to replace the iconic 911. Nevertheless, the 928 stuck around long enough for companies like BB Auto to create iconic versions like the Porsche 928 Targa. In more recent times, Nardone has reimagined the iconic, front-engine Porsche coupe as an exquisite resto-mod.

The Porsche 928 marked significant success during the mid-1980s. This prompted Porsche to consider a more practical, four-door variant of the luxurious coupe. There were a couple of low-volume, four-door Porsche models, some of which were based on the 911, but never a mass-produced model, until the Panamera’s debut in 2009.

In 1984, Porsche created a 928 Shooting Brake for Ferry Porsche’s 75th anniversary. Codenamed Porsche 942, it served as the basis for a four-door, long-wheelbase variant that came three years later, in 1987. The "Study H50” featured small, suicide rear-doors, but never went into production. Development of the Porsche 989 started around the same time.

More than a four-door 911

The 989 project was headed by Ulrich Bez with Harm Lagaay being responsible for the styling of the sedan. A fully functional prototype was ready in 1988, with the exterior styling heavily inspired by the Porsche 911. The 989’s taillights would later become part of the Porsche 996.1 design. Despite the elongated, ala-911 roofline, the Porsche 989 sedan was designed to comfortably sit four adults. A similar philosophy was later applied when developing the Porsche Panamera, which despite a hefty curb weight, is currently the quickest hybrid sedan around the Nordschleife.

The 989 would have been a force to be reckoned with

The Porsche 989 was meant to compete with the best from Mercedes and BMW. Kind of ironic, considering Mercede’s first super-sedan – the 500E – was produced by Porsche. In fact, Porsche used a W124 500E test mule to simulate the driving dynamics when developing their own V-8 sedan.

The Porsche 989 would have used an all-new, 80-degree V-8 with water cooling, which was not based on the 928’sexisting, 90-degree V-8. Displacement ranged from 3.6 to 4.2 liters with power output being in the 300-350 horsepower range. Despite the 911-inspired looks, the 989 was developed as a front-engine, rear-wheel-drive platform, similar to the more luxurious Porsche 928.

What The 989 Can Tell Us About The Future Of The Panamera

During the 928’s production cycles, a total of 61,056 units of the front-engine Porsche coupe were sold. While relatively mass-produced for a European luxury sports car, the Porsche 928 experienced a decline in sales in the late-1980s. Porsche management decided that if the 928 continues to sell well, the 989 will be green-lit for production. Sadly, the declining sales of the 928 halted the 989’s release. After Ulrich Bez left Porsche, the project was completely scrapped. The 989 remains the only four-door Porsche to be named with numbers, and for good reason.

Fast forward to more recent times and despite the Panamera boasting exceptional performance in a sleek package, sales have dropped by 25 percent. Meanwhile, the all-electric Porsche Taycan is one of the most popular performance EVs, and the 718 Cayman, which is consistently performing well on the market, is the next in line to get an EV variant, followed by the all-electric Cayenne.

The Panamera will be the next model to get phased out. The Panamera Sport Turismo was discontinued in 2022, but if the recently updated Taycan continues to perform well, the ICE-powered luxury sedan by Porsche would make even less financial sense in the coming years. We know that an all-electric Panamera is coming and will sit above the Taycan in the model lineup, but as I said, its relevance and future existence will depend on sales numbers.

Another looming threat to the Panamera, could be a more compact Porsche EV sedan to take on the likes of the Tesla Model 3? Back In 2015, we saw the Porsche Pajun Concept – essentially, a scaled-down Panamera. Production was initially delayed until 2019, but it is now 2024, and a Pajun is nowhere to be seen.

Initially, meant to be a combustion-powered model, engineers could alter the design to accommodate a fully-electric powertrain. Perhaps, Porsche is waiting for the right time to debut a smaller EV sedan, which could be its next mass-volume seller after the Cayenne and Macan.