SPIED: 2017 Porsche Panamera with all-touch buttons

We’ve known for some time now that Porsche has been working on a replacement for its first-gen Porsche Panamera. We’ve even shown you spy photos of the coming model with little camouflage to disguise its new curves. Here, however, we bring you the best look at the car’s interior we’ve ever seen yet.

Snippets of the cabin from a distance have been uncovered before, but here, the next-gen Panamera’s centre console, steering and parts of its dashboard are in clear view. Notably, the centre console is one area that stands out.

Look closely, and it appears that Porsche has dropped its previous button-heavy arrangement for what looks here like a fully touch-sensitive panel that surrounds the gear lever. All of the car’s controls which previously had dedicated switches or buttons have been replaced by a far simpler layout.

We reckon that some of the car’s controls have even been shifted to the dashboard-integrated touchscreen display. This could be a new route for Porsche models in the future, so do take note of what you see here.

The three-spoke steering wheel is also new to the Panamera, and like other new Porsche models, is inspired by the Porsche 918 hypercar. The five-binnacle instruments are familiar, and while the top half of the dashboard is completely covered up, we do spot that the air-conditioning vents have been relocated, and that all buttons that used to surround the multimedia display screen have been removed.

Outside, these spy photos don’t show us anything we haven’t already seen. The front end of the car is sculpted as you’d expected it, but it is the rear that has drawn some attention. While the first-gen Panamera’s rear end was a bit ungainly to some, the next-gen model seems to have been heavily revised in the area.

We also know that this Panamera will be underpinned by Volkswagen’s new Modular Standard Platform (MSB). To be applied in all high-end Volkswagen Group models, such as the future Bentley Continental range, MSB will bring about weight significant shavings as well – said to be up to 100 kg, in the case of the new Panamera against the old one.

Few changes are expected in the next-gen model’s powertrain department, with it likely carrying forward the current range of V6 and V8 turbocharged units. The S E-Hybrid plug-in hybrid version should remain available, with the Panamera Turbo sitting at the top of the range.

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