Porsche: Goodbye boxer engine, hello battery pack

by Nik Berg

18 March 2022 2 min read

It was only a matter of time and now Porsche has confirmed what all car enthusiasts have long-suspected: its next generation of sports cars will run on electricity rather than super unleaded. The German sports car maker says that the next generation 718 Cayman and Boxster will only come in battery-electric form, while the 911 is set to go hybrid.

At the company’s annual conference Porsche CEO Oliver Blume said the electric 718 replacement would arrive “by the middle of the decade”. That means it will follow the Macan in Porsche’s rapid shift to electrification.

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There’s a stay of execution for internal combustion in the 911, but the brand icon will be hybridised in its next iteration. Already 40 per cent of Porsche’s European sales are electrified (hybrid, plug-in hybrid and EV) while the firm predicts that by 2030 80 per cent of all sales globally will be pure electric.

“The future of Porsche is electric,” Blume told media, but there is some good news for fans of the firm’s famous flat-six, because its “flexible engine strategy” will allow internal combustion to continue for a while yet. However, no one doubts that, in the medium term, the writing is on the wall for pistons and spark plugs.

In a bid to make life easier for buyers Porsche is also set to roll out its own network of high-power charging stations, with the first installations set for Germany, Switzerland, and Austria in 2023.

Porsche is also pinning hopes on climate-neutral e-fuels to keep its existing cars on the road long into the future. However, much will depend on lobbying behind the scenes of governments around the world.

For those who have been hovering on the brink of buying one of the last, petrol-powered Porsches, especially the acclaimed Boxster and Cayman, there’s no more than a couple of years left to secure one of the dying breed.