The 500-horsepower Panamera Turbo will be delivered to a customer in Singapore.

While Porsche AG is struggling with profitability and cutting work hours, the new introduced Panamera sedan is doing nicely.

Three months after the new Panamera went on sale, the 10,000th car rolled off the production line at the Leipzig plant. The 500-horsepower, platinum silver metallic, Panamera Turbo will be delivered to a customer in Singapore.

The company plans to build 20,000 Panamera models per year on average. The so-called fourth Porsche model series is being manufactured at the Leipzig plant, sharing a production line with the Cayenne SUV.

The model range starts with the Panamera S, combining a 400-horsepower 4.8-liter eight-cylinder with rear-wheel drive, with power transmitted via a six-speed manual gearbox. An option is a PDK Porsche-Doppelkupplungsgetriebe, an automatic transmission with seven speeds and stop/start technology. The 4S adds all-wheel-drive. And the Turbo – actually, it is bi-turbo – boosts output to 500 horsepower by force-feeding the V8. Eventfully, a V6 model is planned.

“Sales of the Panamera have really taken off: we have already secured over 9,000 orders,” said Michael Macht, Chairman of the Board of Porsche AG. “The Panamera 4S is proving particularly popular and has a share of 44%, putting it ahead of the Turbo (36%) and the Panamera S (20%).

Last week, Porsche announced that it would extend shortened working hours at the Zuffenhausen plant until the end of March 2010. In the coming three months, approximately 2,300 employees who make 911 sports cars will not be working on a total of 16 days. It is the first time since 1995 that the sports car manufacturer shortened hours, in what was once thought to be a recession proof business.

In November, Porsche SE reported it lost (-€4.4) billion before taxes for the business year 2008/09, or operations for August 1, 2008 to July 31, 2009. Net loss was (-€2.52) billion for the 12 months.

The loss was Porsche’s first annual deficit since 1994.