Porsche signaled its intentions towards turning the Boxster and Cayman into electric sports cars in September 2021 at the IAA show in Munich. It’s where the Mission R concept was unveiled as a sneak preview of the next-gen 718 lineup switching to EV power. A new report from Automotive News’ German sister site Automobilwoche claims the duo will arrive next year.
Sources close to Porsche have told the publication Porsche is investing around €500 million (about $566M) at its main plant in Zuffenhausen. The factory needs to be retooled in order to get the all-electric Boxster and Cayman ready to hit the assembly line. Both will enter production in 2023 when another EV is scheduled to arrive – the Macan built in Leipzig without a combustion engine.
The electric sports car duo is allegedly based on the Premium Platform Electric that Porsche and Audi have been working on for several years. The company with the Four Rings will be the first to introduce a PPE-based production model as the Q6 E-Tron will be unveiled before the year’s end. Nothing is official at this point, but Automobilewoche claims the electric 718 models will be able to cover around 249 miles (400 kilometers) on a single charge. However, these are sports cars and therefore owners will want to push them hard. Consequently, that will have a negative impact on range.
The electric Boxster and Cayman will be built in the same factory where Porsche assembles the 911. The latter will be the company’s last car to lose the combustion engine. In the meantime, a hybrid variant is coming soon as a necessity to meet stricter emissions regulations. It’s said to become the most powerful 911 of all time, but it’ll also be the heaviest after adding a bulky battery pack.
Porsche won’t entirely switch to EVs this decade since an all-electric 911 is scheduled to arrive after 2030.
Source: Automobilewoche
