The Porsche Panamera may have been the carmaker’s first sedan to actually hit the market, but it wasn’t the first designed and developed in Stuttgart.
Back in 1988, Porsche began development of a performance-oriented saloon dubbed the 989. Just as the Panamera was launched as a sporty yet luxurious sedan, the 989 was envisioned as a more practical, yet still fast, four-door alternative to the 928.
With Dr. Ulrich Bez at the helm of the project, a 989 prototype was created and fitted with a front-mounted water cooled V8 engine delivering around 300 hp. Although the car fulfilled the design brief as being a four-door derivative of the 928, the project was halted and ultimately cancelled when Bez left Porsche in late 1991 and after 928 sales began to falter.
Porsche claimed that the only prototype was destroyed following the model’s cancellation but in the subsequent years, it was discovered not to be true. In fact, it was kept in storage, hidden from public view, and Porsche never displayed or announced the 989 publicly until after it was ruled out for production.
Consequently, having the chance to lay eyes on the 989 is about as rare as seeing Bigfoot – but for patrons at the recent Goodwood Revival, that very car was displayed alongside a 915 prototype.
Despite being over 25 years old, the design of the 989 has aged gracefully and thanks to its curvaceous lines, wouldn’t have looked out of place in a Porsche dealership from 2005.
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