Autocar: new Boxster & Cayman could use 911 Flat 6!!

[HighwayStar]

Porsche are in the midst of cutting back their EV plans…
https://www.autocar.co.uk/car-news/new-cars/new-po...

[CanAm]

This has been mentioned recently in the Spyder RS thread, but is really of interest across the board.

[Augustash]

At what price i dread to think

[HundredthIdiot]

If they use the t-hybrid exclusively it means no manuals unless they copy/license something like Koeningsegg's funky auto/manual box.

[Jon_Brown91]

Society of Motor Manufacturers and (SMMT) reporting a 29% year on year increase of electric car sales with 72,779 electric cars registered in September 2025, the highest in any single month. Porsche is at the top of the pricing range and perhaps their expectations are a little overambitious

[GT3ZZZ]

Jon_Brown91 said:

Society of Motor Manufacturers and (SMMT) reporting a 29% year on year increase of electric car sales with 72,779 electric cars registered in September 2025, the highest in any single month. Porsche is at the top of the pricing range and perhaps their expectations are a little overambitious

Problem is that almost all of those were Chinese junk. There is no meaningful market for £100,000+ sports car EV's/ SUV EV's which are grossly overpriced.

[Clad-Hach]

Jon_Brown91 said:

Society of Motor Manufacturers and (SMMT) reporting a 29% year on year increase of electric car sales with 72,779 electric cars registered in September 2025, the highest in any single month. Porsche is at the top of the pricing range and perhaps their expectations are a little overambitious

According to BBC news 71.4% of that figure were registered to business and fleet buyers, private buyers are still keeping well clear of EV cars.

[bosshog]

Still. It was 25% of all cars sold in September I believe

[HundredthIdiot]

Clad-Hach said:

According to BBC news 71.4% of that figure were registered to business and fleet buyers, private buyers are still keeping well clear of EV cars.

61% of all new cars in 2025 were registered to business and fleet buyers, so that 71% stat isn't quite as alarming as it seems in isolation.

EVs are presumably more appealing for business use to due to BIK bands and salary sacrifice schemes. If you want an EV and have the option of a salary sacrifice it's a no brainer, why would you buy privately? That shifts EV demand away from private sales.

[Discombobulate]

GT3ZZZ said:

Problem is that almost all of those were Chinese junk. There is no meaningful market for £100,000+ sports car EV's/ SUV EV's which are grossly overpriced.

Some Chinese cars sold aren't very good, but most are far from junk (sadly for the UK and European car industry).
The term Chinese junk, when applied to cars at least, reminds me of "Jap crap" back in the seventies. And look what happened next to the global bike and car industry.

[Grantstown]

Discombobulate said:

Some Chinese cars sold aren't very good, but most are far from junk (sadly for the UK and European car industry).
The term Chinese junk, when applied to cars at least, reminds me of "Jap crap" back in the seventies. And look what happened next to the global bike and car industry.

You’re totally correct. It would be nice though, to see the Government put the necessary conditions in place to kick start our own car industry and make Chinese imports a bad option economically. We need a manufacturing industry, if nothing else to be ready to repurpose in wartime (sadly seeming more of a possibility).

[modeller]

Grantstown said:

You re totally correct. It would be nice though, to see the Government put the necessary conditions in place to kick start our own car industry and make Chinese imports a bad option economically. We need a manufacturing industry, if nothing else to be ready to repurpose in wartime (sadly seeming more of a possibility).

Incentive for BYD / MG / XPENG / etc to setup a manufacturing plant in the UK. That's what we did with the Japanese.

[DMZ]

Augustash said:

At what price i dread to think

Good point but (much?) cheaper than a 911 you’d think, otherwise what’s the point?

The article is kind of rambling through some speculation and facts so not easy to understand it but sounds like it’s suggesting that Porsches need to share engines for it all to work commercially and the only engine that will fit the updated 718 is the hybrid engine. I say updated as I’d say they will do the least work possible to get it to be compliant with whatever lies ahead.

I don’t really get why they are doing this with the 718 tbh. It seems like a lot of hassle for a not very strong selling junior sports car. Yes sure the EV will be a struggle too but at least they have developed it so it’s sunk cost.

Tbh I think I would have some concern about what will actually come out of the shift in direction. It seems they are cobbling together new cars in a panic on shortened timelines and against much tighter regulations.

[NeilPot]

Was going to add a similar comment. How many of us can remember Lucky Goldstar in the 80’s - 90’s.. viewed as low cost Chinese / poor quality. Rebranded to LG in the 90’s, fast forward a few years they aren’t viewed as low cost / low quality and more.

Grantstown said:

Discombobulate said:

Some Chinese cars sold aren't very good, but most are far from junk (sadly for the UK and European car industry).
The term Chinese junk, when applied to cars at least, reminds me of "Jap crap" back in the seventies. And look what happened next to the global bike and car industry.

You re totally correct. It would be nice though, to see the Government put the necessary conditions in place to kick start our own car industry and make Chinese imports a bad option economically. We need a manufacturing industry, if nothing else to be ready to repurpose in wartime (sadly seeming more of a possibility).

[maz8062]

All they'll do is mix up the range, which makes sense.

Base and S models will likely be EV, like with the 718 4 pots. GTS will be a hybrid, and the GT4/ Spyder and RS models will be flat 6, GT3 engines. But for those who are against EVs, the ICE champions, you'll have to pay for the cooking models, which will be slower and more expensive to run in real-world driving than the EVs. Good luck to them.

[ChrisW.]

NeilPot said:

Was going to add a similar comment. How many of us can remember Lucky Goldstar in the 80 s - 90 s.. viewed as low cost Chinese / poor quality. Rebranded to LG in the 90 s, fast forward a few years they aren t viewed as low cost / low quality and more.

Grantstown said:

Discombobulate said:

Some Chinese cars sold aren't very good, but most are far from junk (sadly for the UK and European car industry).
The term Chinese junk, when applied to cars at least, reminds me of "Jap crap" back in the seventies. And look what happened next to the global bike and car industry.

You re totally correct. It would be nice though, to see the Government put the necessary conditions in place to kick start our own car industry and make Chinese imports a bad option economically. We need a manufacturing industry, if nothing else to be ready to repurpose in wartime (sadly seeming more of a possibility).

"Where are LG TVs manufactured? LG TVs are made by LG Electronics, which has over 200 global manufacturing units in different countries, including South Korea, China, Mexico, Poland, Indonesia, and India. Therefore, LG TVs are not produced in any single location."

And now each LG TV signs-off with Life's Good. Chinese electric cars are probably still a mixed bag but they have inherited all the technology they needed via local manufacturing agreements of the best western goods in China, and now they are adding their own technology at a rate that the "soft" west could only hope for. Can we compete ? Do we want it badly enough ?? Or could it just be a question of focus / investment ???

If we don't have home market manufacturers the option of import protections just isn't an option .... even if requiring a sea change in outlook to apply protections ...

So back to cars ... there are some very expensive Chinese electric cars ...

"The most expensive Chinese electric car is the BYD Yangwang U8 EREV, priced at CNY 1,098,000 (approximately $1.1 million). Other high-end electric vehicles include the Hongqi L5, which is priced at around $760,000."

Edited by ChrisW. on Monday 6th October 21:50

[Panamax]

modeller said:

Incentive for BYD / MG / XPENG / etc to setup a manufacturing plant in the UK. That's what we did with the Japanese.

Car manufacturers are abandoning UK, not setting up in UK. Nobody is setting up in UK. Why on earth would any car manufacturer want a new manufacturing plant in UK?

[ChrisW.]

But isn't this the Trump problem ? Tariffs can stimulate the relocation of a manufacturer ... but a complete supply chain takes even longer.

Which is why we need to work hard to keep competitive the industries we have ... a perfect reason to sort out the ridiculous energy cost model where all electricity is bought at the cost of the most expensive fraction (gas) ...
What I would like to know is where does the excess profit from this policy go ? Clawed back for the exchequer in extraordinary taxes or making a few (overseas investors ?) rich ??

[Panamax]

ChrisW. said:

ridiculous energy cost model where all electricity is bought at the cost of the most expensive fraction (gas) ...

Absolutely right. UK has the most expensive energy amongst its competitors, shooting itself in one foot. Then you look at the cost of employing anyone in UK and that’s a bullet in the other foot as well. Car industry is front and centre in the whole mess.

It’ll be interesting to see how Porsche gets on with a change of strategy. It won’t be the first time engines have been similar between their two sports cars. I’m pretty sure versions of the 3.4 were used in both.