The direct translation for the German term Blitzkrieg is ‘Lightning War’ and it usually refers to the World War II Nazi strategy of rapid concentration of force at high speed to break the enemy front.
In the world of performance sedans, the Germans don’t have a lot of enemy fronts to shatter as the only notable rivals from foreign automakers are the Cadillac CTS-V and the Jaguar XF-R (S), but they’re still attacking the segment with lots of force.
What do they have is a lot of internal competition, sometimes even within their own house (i.e. M3 Sedan, M5 Sedan).
For the latest installment of MotorTrend’s “Head 2 Head” series, Jonny Lieberman pits the new BMW M5 sedan against Porsche’s newcomer, the Panamera GTS.
Now, we understand that some may question Lieberman’s choice of models as in terms of power, the Panamera Turbo S with its 543hp (550PS) 4.8-liter turbocharged V8 seems like a more direct competitor to the 553hp (560PS) 4.4-liter twin-turbocharged M5.
What you need to keep in mind that with an MSRP of $175,300, the Panamera Turbo S costs almost twice the price of the $89,900 BMW M5. In fact, even the 424hp (430PS) naturally-aspirated 4.8-liter V8-powered Panamera GTS has a much higher price tag at $111,000.
And then there’s the issue that Porsche itself has described the GTS as the “sportiest model in the Panamera range”. So why disagree?
Whether or not the GTS can take on and win the battle with the M5 is something we will let you find out for yourself in the video test drive that follows below the break.
VIDEO