The Porsche 718’s slow but surefire slide towards the end of its sensational life is inching closer, and one of the biggest blows yet has arrived: you can no longer order one new in Britain.
Head to Porsche’s configurator (which you probably do on a daily basis anyway if you’re anything like us) and select any version of the 718 Cayman or Boxster, and you’ll find a big notice at the top of the page: “Note: It is no longer possible to place new factory orders on this model. Please contact your Porsche Centre to enquire about available models which match your configuration.”
Porsche 718 Cayman Style Edition
We’ve known this day was coming for a while, even as the UK remained an outlier among much of Europe for still offering the non-RS versions of the 718, which was discontinued on the continent a couple of years ago due to its noncompliance with EU cybersecurity laws.
This has nothing to do with that, though: Porsche’s fulfilling orders as it finally prepares to end the car’s long life as it readies an all-electric successor, although rumours of that car’s delay are rife. When production finally does end later this year, it’ll be 29 years since Porsche launched the original Boxster – a car credited with saving the company from the brink of bankruptcy – and 20 years since it was joined by the Cayman coupe for the second generation.
Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS
The 718 itself has been around for a long time by usual model cycle standards. It was first launched in 2016, its new name a nod to the historic 718 racecar intended to soften the blow of it transitioning from a sonorous naturally aspirated six-cylinder engine to a range of turbocharged four-pots.
Of course, those flat-fours were the only real flies in the ointment of what was still a fantastic car, and the new name soon became moot when the cars regained a flat-six for the GT4 and Spyder models in 2019. That engine filtered down into the less hardcore GTS 4.0 a year later, and was joined in 2021 by the GT3-engined RS models – both 9000rpm salutes to combustion.
Porsche 718 Boxster GTS 4.0
Those RS models were pitched as going-away parties for the petrol Boxster and Cayman, and four years later, the party’s finally coming to an end. For the UK, the last of the 718s will be built to fulfil existing orders and dealer stock, and we suspect the same will be true for most other markets before long.
However technically brilliant the eventual electric replacement ends up being, it’s going to have some job on its hands to recapture the magic of its forebears. We’ll miss you, 718.
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