Electric Porsche Boxster spied testing in winter wonderland

Back in March, Porsche CEO Oliver Blume officially confirmed what many had been speculating: that the next-generation 718 Boxster/Cayman sports cars would be all-electric. At long last, spy photographers have captured our first look at the upcoming 718 Boxster, undergoing what we suspect to be cold-weather testing.

The two-seater appears to retain the 718’s familiar mid-engine proportions, so expect a more styling evolution than revolution of the existing car. The tweaks we can make out are evident at the stem and stern. Up front it looks like we’ll see sleeker headlights akin to those already found on the Taycan. There are massive openings for airflow at either corner of the front bumper, and it’ll be curious to see exactly what components in that area require cooling.

There’s a distinct character line spanning the width of the electric Boxster’s rear end, blending both taillamps into the area where we’d normally find a small, deployable rear spoiler. This design choice mirrors the language found in the current 992-generation Porsche 911, and we’d expect something similar to make it to production.

But wait, isn’t that an exhaust tip I see down in the lower center? Isn’t this an EV?

Indeed, but our spy shooter reports that the exhaust looked tacked onto the car’s body-cladding more than attached to any functional system. (Not to mention the lack of noise coming out of it.)

Expect elements of the electric Boxster’s technology to come from the 1100-hp Mission R race car, which already looks like a hotted-up Cayman. Porsche has been open about the challenges that converting a sports car like this to electric power can bring; namely, preserving the Boxster’s mid-engine driving dynamics and particular balance.

To that end, expect Porsche to place the batteries in a stack behind the driver’s seat and in front of the rear wheels, keeping that lump of mass centrally-located rather than placing it all along the bottom of the car in a skateboard layout (batteries mounted flat along the entire floor of the car) that has become so common in today’s EVs.

Elsewhere, we can see some meaty braking hardware under those mismatched wheels, a sign that rapid stops will be necessary to bring the quiet corner carver down from high speed. And knowing Porsche, we’d expect panic stops to be as repeatable as the day is long.

As the Taycan has already proved, Porsche believes electrification definitely has a place in the brand’s future. We’re thrilled to see that the sports car that all many argue saved the brand some 25 years ago will be along for the ride yet again.