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Sharapova adds specs appeal to Panamera

Tennis ace creates her own Porsche for Sochi Winter Olympics.


With the Winter Olympics in Sochi underway, the town's most famous daughter - tennis ace Maria Sharapova - has returned home and revealed her take on a Porsche Panamera GTS. She just happens to be a brand ambassador for the German company, as well.

Exterior
Moving on before anyone picks us up on the fact Maria was born in Nyagan, a good 3,700km away from Sochi (she moved to the Black Sea town when she was two, in case you're wondering), what's basically happened here is she's been let loose on the Panamera with full access to the Porsche Exclusive programme of options.

So the Panamera GTS 'by Maria Sharapova' is finished in white, with high-gloss detail touches such as the black LED main headlights, tinted LED rear lights, black tailpipe covers and 20-inch Panamera sports wheels in, you guessed it, black. It's also got the Porsche Dynamic Lighting System Plus at the front, but you wouldn't know that without driving it at night.

Interior
There is extended leather inside with decorative stitching in crème. The instrument dials and the Panamera's key are both painted in the same white as the body. Meanwhile, the front and rear headrests are embossed with the Porsche crest, the armrests have the Panamera GTS model logo and the carbon door sill guards have individual 'Maria Sharapova' lettering. All very classy, Shazza.

Mechanicals
The Panamera GTS 'by Maria Sharapova' features the same normally-aspirated 4.8-litre V8 with 440hp as a standard car. It'll do 0-100km/h in 4.4 seconds and go on to 288km/h - which is considerably faster than one of Sharapova's first serves.

Anything else?
"Creating and specifying a very personal Porsche Panamera was such an exciting undertaking," said Sharapova. "It opens the door to a whole new design sensibility and allowed me to bring my own personal aesthetic.

"I count myself not only as an athlete, but also as a designer - I've designed full collections of luxury accessories, apparel and even candy for years. I never thought I would have the opportunity to add a car - especially a Porsche - to that repertoire."

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Published on February 9, 2014