Porsche teases 'future-oriented' concept, could be Boxster EV?
Thursday, 19 August 2021
Porsche is set to reveal a new concept car at the Munich Motor Show, teasing a single picture of a new-look headlight cluster.
What the headlight belongs to is as-yet unclear, but rumour has it, Porsche is planning this to be our first look at an all-electric Boxster/Cayman.
The headlight takes styling cues from the Porsche Taycan, with four horizontal strakes and a downward slash with what appears to be an indicator at the bottom. It even looks a little like the first-generation Boxster’s ‘fried egg’ headlights, just thoroughly updated for the modern age.
The small electric sports car twins will probably be based on the new electric-only PPE architecture that will also underpin the electric Macan, as well as numerous other Volkswagen Group EVs.
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Expect rear-wheel drive at least, possibly all-wheel drive as well, range exceeding 500km and prodigious power, despite the extra weight from the batteries.
Another option for the concept is a new racer, considering the caption specifies motorsports. That could mean Porsche is about to reveal its entry to the Le Mans Daytona hybrid class, the top-rung of endurance racing alongside the Hypercar class.
Whatever the mystery headlight is attached to, it will be revealed in early September. If it is an electric Boxster, Michael Steiner, Porsche's executive board member for R&D, told Car and Driver the company wants the Boxster to follow the same path taken by the Mission E concept, which evolved to a production model four years later. Should that be the case, a battery-powered baby sports car from Porsche won’t be on sale until around 2025.
In the meantime, Porsche fans can look forward to an RS version of the Cayman GT4, expected to get more power, less weight and a more extreme suspension set-up. If it comes as a manual (and there's no reason to assume it won't), let’s hope the RS engineers have sorted the iffy gearing out.