Porsche has finally confirmed that there will be no more gas-powered Boxster/Cayman going forward, and that all-electric versions of those vehicles will have their first production year in 2028.
The move shows that Porsche is finally ready to bring electric power to its sportscars… but Porsche’s CEO still says the 911 will “never” go electric. We think time will show him to be wrong on that one.
Porsche held an investor presentation today, laying out its strategy through 2035.
In it, it talked about the future of the 718, otherwise known as the Boxster convertible and Cayman hardtop.
The gas-powered versions of these two vehicles went out of production in 2025, and since then, there have been rumors swirling about which direction Porsche would go with the model going forward: gas or electric.
Most of the rumors assumed that the next model would be electric, but some holdouts who just can’t give up their bad powertrain were trying to manifest a return of a gas engine.
But thankfully for everyone who either enjoys driving responsive vehicles or breathing air, Porsche has now put the kibosh on that, and says that going forward the 718 is going to be solely battery powered.
In the company’s presentation, the 718 was listed as a solely electric model, with 2028 being its “first full year of production.”
And the news about the car went further, as Car and Driver got a chance to go for a ride-along in it around Porsche’s Weissach test track.
Porsche 718 has mid-mounted battery to retain handling characteristics
This included the reveal of one aspect of the car we hadn’t yet heard about – its battery configuration.
Most EVs these days have the battery low-slung at the bottom of the vehicle, which helps cornering by lowering the car’s center of gravity. This reduces roll and makes the car feel more stable and planted when turning.
But it also raises the seating position, making the driver feel a little further from the road. For a sportscar, sitting low is part of the feel of driving, so it’s a bit of a compromise in that respect.
So the 718 actually mounts the battery behind the seats, rather than underneath them. This allows for a lower seating position, and also allows for a dynamic balance more similar to the outgoing mid-engined gas versions, which have their engine positioned behind the seats as well. The gas Boxster had a 59.8% rear weight bias, while the EV has 55.2% rear.
Car and Driver called this configuration “unique,” but… it isn’t really. In fact, the very first EV of the modern age, the Tesla Roadster, has a similar battery configuration. In practice (and I have a lot of practice, I own one), this gives a rear-wheel drive vehicle like the 718 or the Roadster incredible traction under acceleration, as so much of the car’s weight is over the drive wheels. (The Roadster was even more rear-weight-biased, with roughly 35/65 front-rear distribution)
Porsche CEO says the 911 will ‘never’ go electric… but we’re not so sure about that
The commitment to an electric 718 is significant, given that Porsche has been back and forth on electrification.
The company recently booked a $6 billion loss due to its EV intransigence, and pivoted back towards combustion engines despite the fact that its main problems have been in markets where’s its sales are being siphoned away by electric rivals from China.
So we’re glad to see them committing to an electric 718, though perhaps less glad to hear about an upcoming new SUV which will be gas and plug-in hybrid, a silly decision in a world where the downsides of oil are so readily apparent.
But now that Porsche has committed on the 718, the question then comes of when it will electrify its iconic 911.
The 911 has served as the brand’s signature for more than half a century, continually produced and modified since then. And it has been a popular vehicle for enthusiasts and a halo car for the Porsche brand all along.
And now we have an answer: during the presentation, Porsche CEO Michael Leiters said “the 911 will never be electric.”
That certainly puts a pin on it, and seems to answer the question for good. But we’re not so sure about that.
Yes, the Porsche 911 will go electric
“Never” is a long time, even for Porsche’s famously stubborn fanbase. Yes, Porsche fans complain any time the company improves their cars – they complained when it started using water cooling for engines, they complained when it started using electric power steering. And they’ll complain when Porsche electrifies the 911.
Why do we think Porsche will electrify the 911? Because Porsche will electrify everything. So will everyone else.
There are two options for the future of this planet: In the long term, humanity either stops extracting oil from the Earth to turn into gasoline and burn in car engines, or human civilization no longer has the level of organization required to support a luxury automaker like Porsche.
We all know this, and we are currently seeing the clear effects of how horrible this oil addiction is for everyone. Countries, companies and drivers are rapidly getting their act together and trying to electrify as quickly as possible. The companies and countries that are providing for that electrification are seeing great success.
This will, in the medium and long term, be accompanied by a collapse of everything to do with oil and oil-powered vehicles.
So imagine, 20 years from now, when Porsche is no longer able to sell gas-powered 911s in Europe, in China, or in its major US markets. Will the Porsche still “never” be electric then? Where are you going to sell those cars? Laos? Ethiopia? Nepal?
Porsche will electrify the 911 if it wants to win races
And even if you don’t acknowledge the inevitable scientific realities of the previous few paragraphs, all you need to do is look at recent racing results to see the way the arrow is moving.
Xiaomi, a smartphone-maker with no experience building cars, built an EV and had beaten Porsche at Porsche’s own playground only about three years after the company first put pen to paper. The record has since traded back to Porsche, but this and other impressive EV racing results show that EVs are just getting better.
If the 911 is Porsche’s halo car, the car that brings people into the brand, the car that Porsche uses to dominate racing, how is that going to look in a decade or two when anyone can slap together a performance EV and stomp a gas-powered competitor, no matter how much “racing heritage” the latter has?
Will Porsche start marketing the 911 as a return to a bygone era, having the same success as horse-and-buggy companies in the 1950s? Will Porsche drop the brand that it has maintained and that has led its company’s sales for decades, out of some ridiculous sense of “purity” for the 911 that must remain unsullied by a superior powertrain? Or will Porsche do the obvious thing and swap to a better powertrain to provide a better vehicle?
So, we disagree with Leiters here. The 911 will (not “should”) eventually become electric. Either that, or the 911 or Porsche will cease to exist. There’s no other option.
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