When Porsche revealed the Mission R concept, it sure looked like a preview of an all-electric successor to the modern 718 Cayman. Now, the future of the junior Porsche sports car is official.
A Porsche spokesperson confirmed to Road & Track Friday that it plans to electrify the 718 going forward, "without ifs or buts." That should mean the Cayman equivalent of the new 718 will look like something resembling the Mission R concept, which has most of the dimensions of a traditional mid-engined roadster despite its electric platform. Porsche has yet to share a look at the future of the Boxster side of the 718 family.
Top Gear reports that the new car will still be built on the same production line as the 911, but the switch to full-time electric power for the 718 will make it a fairly different car from its flagship relative. Given how well both the 911 and Taycan have sold over the past few years, the market for an electric sports car wedged right in between should be robust.
Electrification is coming for the 911, too, but that will look very different. Porsche has also confirmed that the 911 will be getting a hybrid variant, one with "sporty hybridization from motorsport," the spokesperson said. The Drive reports that the hybridized 911 will not have a plug-in option, so expect a performance-focused angle on electric assistance more in line with the 918 Spyder hypercar and 919 Hybrid racing car. Porsche's next great racing car, an unnamed challenger in IMSA's GTP and the FIA World Endurance Championship's Hypercar classes, is a hybrid-assisted racer set to debut at Daytona next January.
Porsche's spokesperson told R&T that the plan is to electrify the Cayman "in the middle of the decade," which should mean the car appears around 2025. The timeline for a hybridized 911 has not been shared.
