German automotive giants Porsche are gearing up to rejig their mid-engine sports car lineup, which will see new pricing structures alongside new names.
The Boxster roadster will no longer be the most affordable Porsche, and will be replaced by the Cayman coupe. Combined, the pair accounted for around 10% of the 225,000 cars that Porsche shifted in 2015.
The Cayman coupe had previously been sold at a premium price, while the convertible Boxster was cheaper. In normal circumstances it should be the other way around; convertibles are generally more expensive because of the crash safety standards that these cars have to meet.
But Porsche had for a long time turned this unspoken rule on its head – and mostly come out on top.
Downsized Porsche Cayman And Boxster Engines
Porsche is introducing new, smaller engines for both the Boxster and Cayman in a bid to decrease their CO2 emissions.
Engineers will remove 2 of the 6 pots in the Boxster engine but will add a turbocharger. Both models will share the same horsepower in the future that will balance the costs after the complexities involved in revising the engines.
For this reason, the Cayman will be priced lower than the Boxster. In the past, the coupe had 10 bhp more than its convertible stablemate. The brand new Boxster – which is now known as the 718 Boxtser – will be debuted tomorrow at the Geneva auto show.
The 718 Cayman will first go on show to the public at the Beijing show on April 25th.
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