Is it possible to filter by Content Type Variant in Views?
i agree with Niall comment, if is only one contentype, use only one variant and control what to display in views, use content panes views, set contextual filters, relations, and how to pass parameters between views and panels in views ui middle column, pane views are design to "talk" with panels, make several views as needed, add them all to panel variant, and control wich pane to display in panel rules settings.
If there are more than one contentype, add a variant for each one.