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

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In an interview with Top Gear magazine, Andreas Preuninger said “the future of the mid-engine platform might have a lot to do with electricity.” Since the larger 911 is rear-engined, it’s pretty obvious the head honcho of the GT cars was referring to the 718 models. He went on to say the recently unveiled GT4 RS represents the “high time to have a big party on the platform of the 718 with an atmospheric, normally aspirated engine with 9,000 rpm.”

Reading between the lines, the hardcore Cayman GT4 RS represents an epilogue for the conventionally powered engine. To which extent the next-generation model will be electrified remains to be seen, but we wouldn’t necessarily exclude a purely electric drivetrain. After all, the Mission R concept shown earlier this year at IAA Munich came without a combustion engine.

In fact, Porsche representatives have already expressed their desire to get “elements of this [Mission R] in future production cars,” adding they will do their best to “find a way to realize a car such as this.” The concept will morph into an electric race car in 2025 for a dedicated racing series, and the middle of the decade could be when the Boxster and Cayman will lose their gasoline engines.

Around the same time, Porsche is expected to come out with a hybrid version of the 911 featuring a rumored 700 horsepower and a whopping 738 pound-feet 1,000 Newton-meters of torque. An all-electric derivative is planned, but it won’t arrive before 2030 at the earliest.

Source: Top Gear

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