Porsche Panamera unveiled... after an elevator ride

A lot of you may have heard of Porsche's newest model line, the four-door four-seater Panamera. A lot of you don't like the Panamera. While I strictly believe in a "to each his own" policy, I think that this car is one that grows on you after a while. After all, when Porsche unveiled the Cayenne in 2002, the automotive world scoffed at it. And now, it's one of the most popular cars; especially here, where you see so many of them that it makes you want to pull your eyes out and blindly hurl them at one. But, I digress...

The Panamera was just unveiled at the Auto Shanghai 2009 expo on April 19. When it officially goes on sale in Europe, North America and Asia in September [with other regional releases in October through December], the [current] base option, the V-8 400-horsepower Panamera S, will begin at 89,900 US dollars. Eighty-nine thousand nine hundred dollars. The Panamera Turbo, the top-end offering from this line, will liberate you from a whopping 132600 dollars [customizable options not included]. Recession? What recession? Ree-se-shun?

Something cool that Porsche managed to pull off at the car's unveiling was its ability to reveal the car from the 94th floor of the Shanghai World Financial Center [currently the world's second-tallest building at 492 meters]. How'd they get it up there, you ask?

By elevator. Duh.

The five-meter long car was put on a specially-constructed rig, where it was then turned vertically and shoved into an elevator cabin with only inches to spare on all sides. It then began the climb to the 94th floor of the tower, where it was presented to the world 425 meters above the ground. 

Fitting, seeing that only that very top echelon of the financial demographic [or Kuwaitis] would be able to afford that thing in times like these anyway...