Porsche 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman leave the European market

The Porsche 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman are set to follow the combustion-engined Macan out of the European market.

As with the SUV, emissions cannot be blamed this time. The European Union (EU) is introducing new safety and cybersecurity requirements under UNECE WP.29, which all newly registered cars in the EU must meet from July 2024.

These new requirements are intended to safeguard vehicle systems from cyberattacks throughout development, production and post-production, while improving their responsiveness and resilience.

The Porsche 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman do not comply with these requirements, as they were developed before the rules had been established. As was the case with the combustion-engined Macan, fitting a new electronic architecture would be too costly.

The German brand has therefore decided to withdraw the two sports cars from the European market around three months before the new regulations come into force.

The new rules are also responsible for the departure of other Volkswagen Group models from the European market: the Volkswagen up! and Transporter T6.1, plus the Audi TT and R8, whose production has recently ended.

Exceptions

However, failure to meet the new requirements does not spell the end of the combustion-engined 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman. They will no longer be offered in the European Union, but will remain on sale in other markets, including North America and Asia.

This will not, however, be the “last farewell” for combustion-powered Porsche 718 models. Under the existing rules, the more performance-focused 718 Cayman GT4 RS and 718 Spyder RS can continue to be sold for another couple of years, until July 2026.

According to a brand spokesperson speaking to Motor1, this is because they can be covered by European regulations specifically for “small series” vehicles, limited to 1500 units per year.

Hello, electric!

While the combustion-engined Porsche 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman will depart in the coming months, their 100% electric successor will not arrive until 2025 - just as happened with the Macan.

Test prototypes of the new electric sports car are already out on the road:

Source: Motor1