Porsche delays the launch of the electric 718 Boxster and Cayman until 2027

The presentation of the electric successor to the 718 Boxster and Cayman will not finally take place at the end of the year, as had been planned. Some rumours over the past year had already suggested that the Stuttgart firm was encountering some obstacles in bringing this launch to market, and those rumours have finally been confirmed.

Everything points to one of the main problems for Porsche being the current financial situation of one of its main suppliers, Northvolt. In statements to German media, Oliver Blume himself, head of Porsche and of the Volkswagen Group as a whole, has hinted that the availability of high-performance battery cells is a major obstacle to the electrification of the 718 Series, which will force the company to look for alternatives and, as a consequence, will delay the commercialisation of these models by a couple of years, until 2027.

Porsche’s big mistake with the 718 Series has been to depend on a single battery cell supplier, in this case Northvolt. These models need high energy density cells to keep their compact size while delivering high performance on the track. Northvolt’s insolvency, as it failed to stay afloat despite restructuring efforts in both the United States and Sweden, has proven an insurmountable obstacle in the short term. The Swedish battery cell supplier has officially declared bankruptcy, and an administrator has had to take control to decide whether to reorganise or sell parts of the business. The subsidiaries in Germany and Canada are, for now, not affected.

Electric model launch schedule for Porsche

The electric Cayenne with electric propulsion system will therefore reach the market before the electric 718 Series, although the presentation of the German manufacturer’s premium electric SUV, based on an evolved version of the PPE platform, does not yet have a specific date set.

Other future electric model launches from Porsche are also under review. For now, only the electric Cayenne, planned for 2026, appears secure. Project K1, a seven-seat electric SUV intended to become the new flagship of the Stuttgart firm and about which we have already spoken previously here at HighMotor, may ultimately not reach the market in 2027 as originally planned.