The fourth model in Porsche's car line, now scheduled to hit the market in 2009, will carry a hefty price tag of between $125,000 to $175,000, Inside Line has learned.

Code-named Project D1, the successor to the controversial 928 incorporates distinctive styling elements from the Cayenne SUV and the Carrera GT sports car. The roof is tall for easy entry and exit, and the rear end is high enough to swallow a set of vacation luggage.

Despite its pragmatic proportions and bigger-than-expected dimensions, the Panamera is instantly recognizable as a Porsche. Trademark cues include Carrera GT-type headlamps, large lateral front air intakes borrowed from the 911 Turbo, a wide tailgate similar to that of the Cayenne, and a four-light boomerang greenhouse to avoid that slouchy SUV/wagon look. It blends a front/mid-engine layout with a choice of rear- or all-wheel drive.

Ok, now we're definitely feeling the 2-door version. This is some hotness here!

Porsche is planning to leverage its tighter links with Volkswagen to help it build the new Panamera four-door coupe. Porsche has bought 20 percent of VW's shares and plans to use VW's facilities to make body shells for the Panamera.

Volkswagen already supplies the body shells for the hot-selling Cayenne sport-utility vehicle, which shares much of its metal with VW's own Touareg SUV. According to a German press report, Volkswagen's main Wolfsburg plant would stamp out and weld together steel Panamera body shells, paint them, and ship them to Porsche's assembly plant in the eastern German city of Leipzig when production starts in 2009.

Earlier it had been suggested that VW might build the Panamera alongside the slow-selling VW Phaeton. Instead, VW has used up slack capacity at the Dresden plant that builds the Phaeton by using it to make Bentley Continental Flying Spur models since the Bentley factory in England can't cope with demand.

The cooperation deal will sharply reduce the $1.2 billion development costs for the new luxury Panamera model, which will be unveiled at the Geneva Motor Show in March.

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