A prototype of the electric Porsche 718 Boxster has been photographed testing at the Nurburgring with almost no camouflage, the clearest look yet at a car whose development has run years behind schedule. Only the headlights and a wrap around the rear, faking taillights, remain covered. The sighting suggests Porsche could bring the production version to market as early as next year.
What the spy photos show
The photos capture the convertible Boxster variant rather than the hardtop Cayman, which spy photographers had already caught testing separately in earlier sightings. This is described as the best look yet at the drop-top model, with bodywork almost entirely uncovered aside from the front and rear lighting elements still hidden under wrap.
The overall silhouette closely follows the current 718 generation, but with updated headlights and a new set of taillights that extend into the bodywork, a treatment similar to the one Porsche uses on the 911. That continuity suggests the electric 718 will read as an evolution of the existing shape rather than a clean-sheet design.
Specifics of the platform and powertrain remain unconfirmed, but an 800-volt electrical architecture is expected, along with single-motor and all-wheel-drive versions offered alongside each other. That would put the 718 EV's underpinnings in the same voltage class Porsche already uses on its fastest-charging electric models.
Why the car has taken so long
Talk of an electric Cayman dates back to 2021, when Porsche revealed the Mission R concept, a car that was never meant to reach production. The customer version of the 718 EV was originally expected in 2025, a date that came and went without the car arriving.
The delays grew significant enough that internet speculation held the electric 718 program had been scrapped outright. Porsche chief executive Michael Leiters addressed that speculation directly last month, stating the electric 718 remains in development. The new near-production spy photos are described as affirming his position.
Porsche has not confirmed a combustion-engine successor to the current 718 alongside the electric version, though the hope is that the gasoline model will not be far behind the EV once the electric car finally reaches showrooms. Both variants have faced parallel uncertainty during the platform's prolonged development.
How the 718 fits into Porsche's lineup
Porsche builds its range within the Volkswagen Group alongside Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini and Bugatti, and our guide to how the Volkswagen Group is organized covers each of those subsidiaries in turn. The 718 is the entry point of Porsche's sports car range, priced and positioned below the 911.
Electrification has already reshaped the top of Porsche's range. We covered how the electric Cayenne Turbo became the most powerful Porsche ever built, a signal of how far the brand is willing to push battery power once it commits to a model. The 718 EV would extend that shift into Porsche's smallest, lightest sports car.
Electric models already dominate our ranking of the best luxury SUVs, where the Porsche Cayenne Turbo E-Hybrid Coupe takes first place among twenty-five vehicles and electric entries hold five of the top ten spots. The 718 EV would be Porsche's first attempt to bring that same electric case to a two-seat roadster.
Porsche's standing in the wider market has grown more contested even as its engineering ambitions expand. Our count of the most popular luxury car brands online finds BYD now drawing more search interest than Porsche or Audi, a shift that puts pressure on Porsche to make its electric sports cars land as convincingly as its electric SUVs already have.
Porsche's own site details how much each model in its lineup costs alongside the technical specifications behind them, the kind of reference a shopper weighing an eventual 718 EV order against a current 718 Cayman or Boxster would want on hand.
What happens next
Porsche has not set a confirmed on-sale date for the 718 EV, and pricing has not been discussed in any form. What the Nurburgring photographs establish is timing: a bodywork state this close to production, on a car once rumored dead, points toward a reveal within the coming year rather than a further delay.
For now the electric 718 remains a prototype wearing a thin wrap around its lights, tested on the same Nurburgring circuit where Porsche has long developed its most demanding sports cars, with the combustion 718's own fate still unannounced alongside it.
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Images: Porsche
