Last year, we heard reports that the Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman EVs could be repurposed to allow gas engines to be fitted. During a presentation, the automaker even showed a slide saying, “Addition: Top ICE Derivatives for New 718,” indicating the sports car platform might accept 911 engines, and in January, then-new CEO Michael Leiters said he considered scrapping the electric versions altogether. But the automaker’s Sportwagenschmiede ’35 strategy presented during the 2026 Capital Markets Day only drew attention to the EVs, and in a statement to Motor1, Porsche Head of Corporate Communications, Matthias Rauter, claimed that the gas-powered 718 was never actually confirmed to return. Moreover, CEO Leiters said to journalists at the event that once he drove the electric sports car for the first time, all his skepticism disappeared. Fortunately, there is a silver lining to all this.
Porsche Bets Big On Itself
Porsche
There’s no doubt that the return of combustion-powered versions of the 718 Boxster and Cayman would be welcomed by several enthusiasts, but Porsche is betting that it just needs to get buyers into the dealership and take a test drive. As noted by Automotive News, Porsche’s VP of Vehicle Architecture and Characteristics, Robert Meier, said that Porsche’s 800-volt E-Core Architecture will make the electric 718 twins even better balanced than their gas predecessors, which had a weight distribution figure that placed 59 percent of the vehicles’ mass in the rear. For the 718 EVs, the battery pack isn’t a large under-floor protrusion, instead being made of three modules across two levels in the same place that the engine would have been. “This allows us to achieve a balanced weight distribution with 55.2 percent of the vehicle’s weight on the rear axle, while also lowering the center of gravity,” said Meier. He also pointed out that the battery’s design contributes to torsional rigidity improvements and greater stiffness, and the driving position remains low and near the middle of the chassis, reportedly helping preserve Porsche dynamism. So what about even a small run of high-performance gas 718s? Leiters was unequivocal in his response: “We won’t do that. We will stick with the electric car.” The first full year of production will be 2028, which means a launch will happen before the end of 2027. Does the strategy indicate that Porsche plans to go electric everywhere? Fortunately not.
Porsche CEO: No All-Electric 911, But Other Developments Considered
Although the 911 range now features electrification with the T-Hybrid-powered GTS and the similarly designed Turbo S, Leiters says that’s as far as Porsche will go. “I can assure you, the 911 will never be electric,” he said. If Porsche follows the same playbook it did with the Macan, which became all-electric only to have a newly-named combustion-powered successor enter development to take advantage of its shortcomings on the sales charts, Porsche will still be keeping an eye on a gas 718, but the reality is that an electric 718 makes a gas 911 easier to accommodate. Porsche will launch the electric Boxster and Cayman first, and if they find loads of buyers, Porsche will sit back smugly. If the alternative happens, we wouldn’t be surprised to hear Porsche announce a new mid-engine offering with a new name, likely featuring six-cylinder engines and exorbitant price tags as the automaker tries to make more money from fewer cars. Until then, Porsche may already have something in the pipeline for collectors seeking something special, with a new Mission S supercar teased, potentially getting an eight-cylinder engine. We’ll bring you that reveal in the coming days, so stay tuned.
