The saga of Porsche’s next-generation 718 Cayman and Boxster has been … confusing. Back in 2022, Porsche confirmed the car would go from a mid-engine, gas-powered car to a full EV to satisfy upcoming emissions regulations in the EU, despite no one asking for such a car.
As demand for electric cars has steadily leveled out, Porsche stuck to its guns until this past September, when it revealed during an investor presentation that “top” versions of the gas-powered 718, like the GT4 RS and Spyder RS, would remain in production, with the new EV-platformed cars occupying the rest of the range.
Now, there’s a new report from Autocar claiming Porsche has decided to reverse-engineer the electric 718 to accept a mid-mounted gas engine in what feels like one of the biggest switch-ups I’ve ever seen this far into a car’s development.
I Feel So Bad For Porsche Engineers
As with most electric platforms, the PPE Sport architecture used in the electric 718 was never meant to accept an engine of any kind. This means Porsche engineers have to, essentially, go back to the drawing board to figure out how to make the car work. It feels reminiscent of Fiat’s recent move with the all-electric 500, which was re-engineered to take a hybrid powertrain. From Autocar:
Achieving that will be no small task. The PPE Sport platform uses a stressed, load-bearing battery pack and a flat floor, so removing the battery would significantly weaken the entire bodyshell.
As a result, the proposal from Porsche engineers centres on developing a new structural floor section that bolts into the platform’s existing hard points, effectively adding the rigidity back in. A redesigned rear bulkhead and subframe will then support the engine and transmission, Autocar has been told.
It’s not just the engine and the chassis engineers have to rejigger. There’s also the rest of the stuff ICE-powered cars need to function. Things you don’t really think about until you have to fit the stuff into a car that was never meant to have any of it:
Major packaging constraints remain, not least because the electric structure provides no central tunnel, nor provision for a fuel tank, fuel lines or exhaust system. Engineers suggest these measures require the development of a completely new rear section because the architecture was never designed for a petrol engine.
As for which engine the newly gas-powered 718 will receive, Porsche hasn’t decided, according to Autocar. The publication suggests a new version of the 4.0-liter naturally aspirated flat-six, first introduced in 2020, is a “leading candidate.” Personally, I think that’s a good idea. The turbo flat-fours in the base models were fine, but pretty forgettable compared to the much better-sounding flat-six. Not that Porsche is taking my advice, or anything.
So Why Now?
The market hasn’t been shy about showing automakers it’s not very interested in electric sports cars. Maserati canceled the electric version of its MC20 over a lack of demand. Rimac said last year its Nevera was such a sales flop that it might not make another electric hypercar.
Despite those signals, Porsche stuck to its guns with the electric 718 up until now. If I had to guess why, it’s because that car was already so far along in the development cycle. The company had running prototypes on the road as far back as 2019. Engineers have spent a lot of time trying to get this thing right, and now, it sounds like their work is about to be shelved so some version of the car can survive.
If I had to guess, this move is probably part of Porsche’s “strategic realignment,” which it announced in September. The “significant adjustments” to the company’s product portfolio in the medium- and long-term include a new gas-powered Macan and making its upcoming three-row SUV, which was supposed to be an EV, into a hybrid. There was also a line in there about its upcoming electric cars being “rescheduled.”
In that announcement, Porsche reaffirmed plans to nevertheless offer an all-electric version of the 718. But since then, the company revealed CEO Oliver Blume will be stepping down at the end of December, with former McLaren CEO and Ferrari CTO Michael Leiters set to replace him. So who knows just how much has changed in these few months.
While I feel bad for Porsche engineers, I think this is probably the only viable way forward for the 718, at least in the near term. I’m sure an electric version would’ve been quicker, but no one would’ve bought it. Meanwhile, the gas-powered version is one of the greatest modern sports cars of all time. To hear that it’s possibly getting a new model is good news.
Top graphic image: Porsche
I just bought a ‘11 987.2 Boxster S, manual, with about 5300 miles on it because Porsche was moving the 718’s to EVs.
Looks like I bought at the top of the used market.
Oh well!
EV backlash is the hot trend, of course they’re blaming their woes on “nobody actually wants EVs”.
Weird, it’s almost like jumping too early into new technology without planning a good transition from the old, was unwise?
For fucks sake!!! I want to buy an electric Cayman. I am tired of burning dead dinosaurs that contribute to our environmental destruction. My wife’s i3 will kick your ICE sports car’s ass off the line all day long, and that’s not even what it’s designed for. Electric cars are fundamentally better, and this whining about it can’t be a proper sports car without the proper engine roar is incredibly shallow. Give me that Porsche-engineered electron powered beast and let me blast around those backroads, and I won’t have to crank my tunes. Embrace the future, you……dinosaurs. (Okay, rant over)
No.
You are the only one though. Electric cars don’t have souls like an ICE car does. They are just appliances.
This will drive like shit even if they make everything work, just because it was patched together from an EV platform.
they just need to add a “manual” stick to the electric shebang and put a “turbo” badge on it and sell it as limited for a bajillion dollars.
Probably would’ve been better to keep the old platform for the gas versions and just update the styling to match. This is gonna be one of those automotive stories someone writes a book about in 20 years.
I don’t think that’s what ‘reverse engineering’ means.
“I’m sure an electric version would’ve been quicker, but no one would’ve bought it.”
“Porsche reaffirmed plans to nevertheless offer an all-electric version of the 718.”
Sorry, which one is it?
Unless I’m missing something, it sounds like they’re still planning to offer an electric 718?
Porsche will offer an all-electric version, no-one will buy it. Then, just as they decide to pull it from production, political/consumer sentiment will swing back towards environmentalism and demand zero-emission vehicles so they’ll have to start this whole game all over again.
Rinse and repeat until the world burns down.
I have zero interesting an EV Boxster.
This is all very short sighted. Sure, the current generation of rich folks all grew up on gas engines, so they still can’t quite wrap their heads around EVs. But the future generation will have grown up riding Sur Rons, and they have no misty-eyed nostalgia for leaky, smelly, and slow responding torqueless gasoline engines.
That’s putting it a bit more strongly than I would, but I do agree that eventually they’re going to go EV only, they just mistimed it with this generation.
https://electrek.co/2025/12/11/global-ev-sales-jump-21-in-2025-as-europe-surges-and-the-us-stalls/
Well, not enough people want to pay over $150,000 for an sporty EV. Um, Market Research? Anyone? Bueller?
The EU’s insistence on an all EV future, and subsequent delay and now maybe cancelling of that bullshit has caused the colossal investment and then wildly expensive cancelling of at least three other EV sports car projects, including one I’d worked on for two years.
All this after they must have spent a fortune of developing fake engine noises and fake shift points for the transmission.
The 718 being engineered by the same process as the LB Charger was NOT on my 2025 Bingo card.