Facing a dire decline in sales in China compounded by growing tariffs and EV development costs, Porsche says it may have to shelve its all-electric 718 Boxster and Cayman plans until better days.
According to Michael Leiters, CEO of Porsche since last fall, the current investment climate isn’t promising for luxury EVs. Having bet big on the Chinese domestic market with its tight competition, the German automaker proceeded to lose money for four years in the row. Chinese sales in 2025 plunged by 26.28% to fewer than 42,000 vehicles sold in total.
The original target for 2026 was formulated at an optimistic 100,000 units, but Porsche has since reconsidered it to be 30,000–40,000 units. The numbers aren’t looking good however you interpret them.
As such, we suspect Porsche will be putting the development of the electric Boxster and Cayman on hold soon. As a side effect, it may mess with Audi’s plans to launch an ideological successor to the TT coupe based on the recently unveiled Concept C. While details about that car remain to be officially revealed, multiple reports claimed that the company had planned to source an EV platform for it from Porsche.
Check out the video for a sneak peek of an early Porsche 718 EV with a fake exhaust system.
