Porsche 718 Posts Big Sales Gain Despite Imminent Demise

Soon, the Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman will go all electric (though perhaps not as soon as Porsche once hoped). In the US, Porsche customers are buying gas-powered 718s while they still can, with sales ticking up significantly in 2024. That’s unusual for what is a very old product in automotive terms, the 718 debuting way back in 2016. 

Sales of the 718 ticked up to 5,698 units here last year, up from 4,526 in 2023. That’s the best year for the Boxster/Cayman since 2016, which saw 6,260 sales. And since 2016 was a year when the old 981-generation Boxster and Cayman and the then-new 718 overlapped, 2024 is the best year for the 718 on its own. 

Those sales are no doubt helped by the excellent GTS 4.0 models and special variants from Porsche Motorsport, like the Spyder/Spyder RS, and Cayman GT4/GT4 RS. The 718’s sales increase also came along with a big bump in 911 sales, with an rise from 11,692 units in 2023 to 14,128 last year. Two-door Porsches had a good year last year, but their four-door brethren generally suffered, with all but Cayenne sales dropping.

All of Porsche’s four-door models have received recent refreshes. Both the Cayenne and Taycan got big facelifts, while Porsche rolled out a new, third-generation Panamera in late 2023. The Macan Electric also debuted last year, though the old gas-powered car is still in production for the US and select other markets until some time in 2026. 

Obviously, the Taycan posted the biggest sales drop, and it comes amid a slowdown in electric car sales. Though it’s also possible that the model-year changeover had something to do with the dip. Still, Porsche is having second thoughts about its transition towards electric power. In a recent interview, Porsche CFO Lutz Meschke said “We are currently looking at the possibility of the originally planned all-electric vehicles having a hybrid drive or a combustion engine. We are currently in the middle of making conceptual decisions. What is clear is that we are sticking with the combustion engine for much longer.”

Porsche currently has plans to go all-electric with the Macan, 718, and later, the Cayenne. But all of that is seemingly up in the air. The automaker is also working on a three-row SUV that was supposed to be all-electric, but now might use the current Cayenne platform and gas power. 

If its 2024 US sales are any indication, people want Porsche sports cars, and moreover, people want gas-powered Porsches. It’ll be interesting to see if the company adjusts its strategy to suit.