Following rumours last year, Porsche has now confirmed that it will offer its 718 mid-engined sports car lineup exclusively in electric form by 2025. This update comes after a long period of uncertainty in regards to the replacement of the current mid-engined Boxster roadster and Cayman coupe, which are now entering their tenth year of production.
In a recent company announcement, Porsche CEO, Oliver Blume, said: ‘We are stepping up our electric offensive with another model. By the middle of the decade, we want to offer our mid-engine 718 sports car exclusively in an all-electric form.’
Though we’ll have to sit tight for the fine details, Blume also revealed that the electric model would be based on a new platform developed specifically for two-door sports cars, and that design would be inspired by the track-only Mission R concept we drove last year. An exact reveal date is quite some way off, but we now know that it will follow behind the all-electric Macan, a model that has already entered development.
The next 718 was initially rumoured to be built on Porsche’s own Modular Mid-Engined Platform (MMB), which currently underpins the 992-generation 911. But with the next Boxster and Cayman making the switch to electric powertrains, the platform will require big technical changes in order to support them. Although the 992 was initially designed to accommodate a hybrid-powertrain, this is unlikely to be adapted to accommodate the 718’s electric requirements.
Beyond technical specifics, the question of whether the effort and expense of turning the new 718 into an electric sports car will be worth it ultimately depends on the bottom line. Given the shrinking market for traditional sports cars and the enthusiastic uptake in high power electric cars, Porsche’s investment to transform the next Boxster and Cayman into electric only models could pay off, especially if combustion models continue to be squeezed by government legislation.
This move will also allow Porsche to continue with internal combustion engines in the 911, possibly mixed with a hybrid option – especially so if the synthetic fuel market continues to receive investment and development – putting less pressure on EV sales to keep its CO2 fleet average down.