Porsche 718 Models Will Keep Their Gas Engines After All

Porsche has detailed its future product plans, and—surprise surprise—there are a lot more combustion engines involved now.

Hold those tears and save the tissues: Porsche isn't going to kill off the gas 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman after all. Or more accurately, it will for a bit, but the replacement models that were meant to be entirely electric will now feature ICE powertrains in their top versions. This, according to Porsche CEO Oliver Blume on an investor call late last week, and confirmed in an accompanying presentation slide.

That isn't the only rejigging of future models Blume presented, either. With the triple-hit of American tariffs, a cooling Chinese luxury market, and the slower than expected EV adoption rate, Porsche is also adjusting its electric plans further out. The flagship SUV meant to sit above the Cayenne is changing its powertrain mix, and a new gas- and plug-in-powered Macan will also return to complement the EV model—possibly built on a front-drive VW platform if rumors are true.

Back to the 718s. The all-electric models that have been promised for years will still arrive at some point before 2030, but Porsche will reserve ICE engines for "top" trims: read RS models. For a company as focused on financials as Porsche, there's a certain logic here: the rarest 718 and 911 trims tend to command big piles of cash, so ditching them would be leaving money on the table.

What isn't clear is how Porsche will be making these gas-powered 718s. The long-gestating EV replacement was meant as just that: re-engineering the platform would be costly. Same too if the brand updated the outgoing model: one of the main reasons it ended production was because it couldn't meet European Union cybersecurity laws.

One interesting angle here: if gas is a lock for the top 718s, this should, in theory, suggest that lower, electric-powered models should be (comparably) affordable. We haven't seen a brand build a dedicated all-electric sports car in the modern era yet: if the 718s center their battery packs and a single motor right behind the driver, we could still see a sports car with reflexes like the beloved models they replace. They won't have the soundtrack, but hey, they might still have "gears."

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