Ballooning development costs, coupled with delays, has once again caused rumours to resurface that the electric Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman will be shelved. A report by Bloomberg cited executives close to the matter, stating that new Chief Executive Officer Michael Leiters, who took charge in January 2026, has scrapped the two models. Prior to
Ballooning development costs, coupled with delays, has once again caused rumours to resurface that the electric Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman will be shelved.
A report by Bloomberg cited executives close to the matter, stating that new Chief Executive Officer Michael Leiters, who took charge in January 2026, has scrapped the two models. Prior to this, the petrol Cayman and Boxster presented relatively affordable entry into Porsche ownership but were discontinued in 2025 on the back of an electric push.
This was especially alarming given that Boxster and Cayman sales rose by 15% in 2024.
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However, the lights for the Zuffenhausen-based premium carmakers are looking increasingly dimmer and belts have to be tightened.
The leading cause stems from sales in China dropping by over 50% since 2022, leading Porsche to decide on shuttering 30% of their dealers in the middle kingdom from 114 to 80 by the end of the year.
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On top of that, the carmaker’s decision to double back on its EV strategy has absorbed more money. The top executives are deliberating on possibly introducing a plug-in hybrid variant but that would require further development to the underpinnings to accommodate.
Additionally, the brand has also been hit hard in the US, its single biggest market, due to the import tariffs.
Once all is said and done though, the decision is not set in stone. Leiters is faced with the dilemma of balancing spending as its factories sit underutilised due to underwhelming demand for its EVs.
Porsche’s initial EV push has since been rocked back and forth four times and the extra cost from pivoting that many times could result in operating profit dropping by 1.8 billion Euros.
Leiters primary task is to boost the brand’s financial performance and sentiments were optimistic during his appointment given a successful previous stint in Porsche.
Rome was not built in a day though, something Porsche Chief Financial Officer Jochen Breckner referenced in October, in regard to 2025 being a slow year for the brand but was optimistic that recovery beckoned in 2026.
For some of us petrolheads, the return of a pure combustion Boxster and Cayman duo isn’t a bad thing at all.