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The Porsche 718 family of sports cars is being sunsetted. 718 is the official name, but we all know and love them by the names Boxster and Cayman. The Boxster is the soft-top and Cayman the hardtop. Porsche will discontinue production of the Boxster and Cayman next month, and expects inventory to be exhausted in the U.S. market by the middle of 2026.
These rear-engine pure sports cars entered the Porsche line in 1997 with attainable price points and modest horsepower ratings, but have morphed into mighty machines with immense capabilities. Prices can now top $100K for a top-of-the-line Boxster. What makes them somewhat unique is that they epitomize the idea of a mid-engine car. Although many cars like Corvettes and even Miatas have engines that sit in between the shock towers (either ahead of the driver or behind), the Boxster’s engine is smack dab in the middle of the car. A lot of mechanically-oriented car nuts thought that was a swell idea. It is, unless you want to work on the car’s engine. Then, not so much.
Porsche has evolved and adapted to stay relevant. Few Americans want sports cars these days. What they want are sport utility vehicles, and Porsche is now an SUV company that dabbles in sports cars. As of the mid-point in our current sales year of 2025, the Macan and Cayenne made up 25,000 of the 39,000 vehicles Porsche sold in the U.S. The iconic 911 sports car makes up just 14% of deliveries, yet a 911 image still manages to top virtually every story published about Porsche. Strange.
The 718 series is being sunsetted for many reasons. One of the reasons is that the 718 has long been siphoning off sales of the 911. Why buy a 911 Turbo S Cabriolet with a quarter-million dollar price tag when a Boxster offers more performance than can ever be exploited on a public road for less than half the price? You still own a Porsche.
Another factor that led to the cancellation of the 718 is the move toward electrification. Porsche plans to bring forth a “…two-door electric sports car – with a genuine ‘mid-engine feel’ and typical Porsche design,” by “the second half of the decade.” It’s already the second half of the decade, and the new electric Boxster/Cayman hasn’t got a name yet, so we are assuming the car will arrive sometime after 2027.
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Battery-electric cars can be very powerful. They can offer immense torque at competitive price points to liquid-fueled performance vehicles. The one problem is that they tend to be heavier than conventionally powered cars. Heavier is a big no-no when it comes to six-figure sports cars. Porsche can combat the weight somewhat by throwing money, carbon fiber, and exotic metals into the design, but that will only go so far. We suspect that a smaller-than-typical traction battery will be part of the design. It could be as small as 50 or 60 kWh. The 718 is nobody’s idea of a daily driver, and we suspect that most see less than 5,000 miles per year added to the odometer. If ever a case could be made for “smaller batteries are better,” this is the car.
The odd thing about the 718 cancellation is that it’s not the lowest-volume model at Porsche. In fact, it’s not even the second-lowest. The 718 is handily outselling the Taycan and Panamera in 2025, and last quarter, the 718 outsold them COMBINED. 718 deliveries are up by 50% in 2025. The 911 is down by 20%. Cancelling a car that is pointed up in sales and outselling two others combined takes guts, especially when EVs that don’t have the name Model 3 or Model Y have all been abject failures in the U.S. market.
If you own a Boxster or a Cayman, are you looking forward to buying an electric 2-door sports car from Porsche in the coming years? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below. We’d love to hear your thoughts.
John Goreham is the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and an expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can connect with John on LinkedIn and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel.
Image courtesy of Porsche.
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Source: torquenews.com
