Porsche’s All-Electric 718 Cayman And Boxster Will Succeed: Here’s Why

Porsche, a brand celebrated for its commitment to the emotional relationship between a driver and their sports car, will soon cease offering combustion engines in its Boxster roadster and Cayman coupe. When the next-generation debuts for the 2025 model year, the sports cars will be powered solely by electricity, an emission-free propulsion technology widely recognized as boring and clinical.

Will the move to electrification push away enthusiasts – Porsche’s core audience – and spell doom for the Boxster and Cayman? Quite the opposite, as history has taught us. Don’t be surprised to see sales of the electric Boxster and Cayman drastically increase as the German automaker fills a void in the marketplace and introduces its popular sports cars to a new and broader audience.

One only has to look at the history of another German automaker — BMW — to see how Porsche’s tactic will unfold.

Decades ago, BMW advertised itself as the “Ultimate Driving Machine.” While other brands pushed automatic transmissions, BMW offered engaging manual gearboxes. And when the industry shifted to front-wheel drive, BMW touted the handling balance of rear-wheel drive. As a result, driving enthusiasts turned to BMW for the world’s most celebrated sports coupes and sports sedans.

In 2009, BMW had just 10 model lines and sold 191,947 vehicles. Yet by 2019, the company had a 23-model lineup, and it sold 324,825 vehicles — BMW was the best-selling premium brand in the US in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2019 (stealing the title from Lexus, which had held it for over a decade).

What did BMW do to accelerate its sales so drastically? First, the automaker abandoned its traditional enthusiast customers. Then, it significantly altered its product line.

During a decade of accelerated growth, the popular 3 Series and 5 Series were joined by the new 2 Series, 4 Series, and 8 Series. In addition, the company added the electric i3 and i8, and the X4 and X7 joined the crossover family. BMW was not only expanding its offerings but altering its lineup, too. The 5 Series lost its manual gearbox option in 2014 – the same year BMW introduced a nose-heavy front-wheel drive model – and the standard 3 Series models were only offered with automatic transmissions beginning in 2018.

As the company expanded its product lineup and dropped the manual gearbox, purists of the BMW brand cried foul and predicted the automaker’s demise. Yet the opposite occurred. The company’s sales, which had been in a slump, grew as new customers embraced a new softer, and more luxurious BMW. With its nearly all-automatic lineup, a brand once limited to selling premium sporty coupes and sedans were now appealing to families, those seeking luxury, and non-enthusiasts. As a result, BMW’s sales grew by more than 65 percent!

All bets are that Porsche will follow the same pattern with its upcoming all-electric Boxster and Cayman.

Today’s combustion-powered Boxster and Cayman appeal to a very narrow slice of the market called “driving enthusiasts.” These buyers seek a powerful sports car with a muscular exhaust note that is engaging to drive – about 25 percent of those buyers are selecting a manual gearbox. However, when the models transition to electric powertrains, they will lose their appeal to most traditional driving enthusiasts as electric cars lack a visceral driving experience (and none are offered with manual gearboxes).

Yet abandoning driving enthusiasts with its entry-level sports car isn’t risky as the new Porsche models will appeal to a much larger audience. The electric Boxster and Cayman will be sporty and fast, but they will also be much quieter – pleasing those seeking more luxury. In addition, they will be emission-free, alluring those looking for an electric vehicle (no automaker offers a sporty EV convertible or coupe). And they will be much less expensive to operate, drawing new customers to the brand that would have been wary of expensive maintenance costs. Lastly, 66 percent of driving enthusiasts are male, so the electric Boxster and Cayman will increase the models’ attractiveness to female buyers.

Expect Porsche’s loyal followers to vocalize their objections as the electric Boxster and Cayman arrive soon. Yet, the company’s executives know what they are doing as the template already exists – abandon your traditional enthusiast customers and significantly alter the product line. As a result, the new vehicles will appeal to a much broader audience; an increase in sales will follow.