Carpokes Porsche Forum

From Motor1.com, an opinion piece stating that Porsche should cancel the electric 718 and why. The writer also states why that won't happen.

edit: He also ends his piece on a positive note for the EV 718 - leaving readers with a fair amount of ambivalence.

"One of the world’s greatest sports cars is about to be replaced with an EV no one is asking for. Why bother?"

"The 718 is one of the last truly great sports cars. It receives near-universal praise by adhering to a simple formula: An engine in the middle and a manual transmission, packaged into a sleek, well-built layout. This collection of attributes is exceedingly rare in 2025."

https://www.motor1.com/features/763166/ ... ctric-718/

A 718 Cayman EV prototype, spotted in 2025.
Photo by: KGP Photography

yep

Stormy_Monday wrote: Tue Jul 08, 2025 11:53 amyep

That mirrors my response.

I guess the only argument here is, nobody has driven the EV yet. To be honest, a Cayman/Boxster-like EV is an interesting proposition. There really haven't been too many bona fide EV sports cars on the market. Perhaps Porsche ends up nailing it?

I'm not an EV guy and will certainly miss the Cayman/Boxster magic. But, I am curious to see how the EV turns out.

Throttlesteer wrote: Tue Jul 08, 2025 1:23 pm I guess the only argument here is, nobody has driven the EV yet. To be honest, a Cayman/Boxster-like EV is an interesting proposition. There really haven't been too many bona fide EV sports cars on the market. Perhaps Porsche ends up nailing it?

I'm not an EV guy and will certainly miss the Cayman/Boxster magic. But, I am curious to see how the EV turns out.

I'm imagine it will be fine for many once Porsche figures it all out. The level of interest in the new 718 EV also rests somewhat on overall EV acceptance levels.

Meanwhile, Porsche keeps pushing the intro date back. Rumors are now that it won't be available until the 2027 model year which suggests to me an official introduction of mid to late 2026. However, that's only a year away (time flies), so not unreasonable.

The article writer ended his piece with the following, so he's a fan.

"I’m sure the electric 718 will be incredible to drive. The Taycan is one of the best EVs to wheel, after all, so a smaller, two-seat equivalent should be even more fun."

In the end however, there will be many who miss the wonderful ICE 718s.

I'm looking forward to it. I can't wait for an excellent EV sports car to be an option. Track driving it will probably be pretty fun and amazing in a different way! ...maybe I can have both a 718 and the new EV.

marin wrote: Tue Jul 08, 2025 2:21 pm I'm looking forward to it. I can't wait for an excellent EV sports car to be an option. Track driving it will probably be pretty fun and amazing in a different way! ...maybe I can have both a 718 and the new EV.

That would be nice!

It appears that a number of design features might still be in play, so I feel Porsche is probably wise to not introduce the new 718 until they get it right. I think rushing it to dealers before it's ready would cripple the car. It's already facing an uphill battle to entice die-hard ICE drivers of all makes - like me - not to mention those who love their gas-fueled 718s.

I don't agree with the article's insistence for artificially created engine noises and phony (synthetic) shift cues. That is corny and cheap beyond measure in my view - it's in blow-up companion territory. Hopefully that is not what it will take for Porsche to entice 718 EV buyers.

I think a large part of the push by Porsche to an EV replacement for the ICE 718 is that they don't want someone else to define the EV sports car. They want to be the ones that make it happen first and make it good. If they are first, and they make it work as well as we know they can with ICE sports cars, the initial market segment is theirs. And since no one else seems to be working on an EV sports car yet, their plan just might work.

As long as the EV out-performs the current generation, it will sell.

In the current market many 3 year old Boxter/Cayman are still worth the original MSRP, in some cases more.

In the current market many 3 year old Taycan are worth half what they sold for new.

It seems the market is suggesting this is a poor move. Nobody is asking for a mini Taycan.