Multilayer panels consisting of a load carrying structure, a porous material for thermal and acoustic insulation and an interior trim panel is a very common type of design for vehicles. Weight as well as total build height are usually limiting constraints on the design. The idea of using an anisotropic porous material instead of an isotropic one to improve the sound transmission loss without adding a lot of weight or thickness is explored in the paper. By using a state space formulation of the transfer matrix method transmission loss it is possible to include anisotropic material properties in the calculation. The anisotropic material is modelled by a combination of a simplified analytical model for the acoustic losses and inverse estimation of the 21 independent elastic constants of the Hooke's tensor. The porous material, which has typical dimensions possible to 3D print, is based on a Kelvin cell micro model that has a controlled degree of anisotropy.