RSR Sports Cars

Photos & Photos: Damon Lowney Courtesy of: Porsche Club of America

Porsche CEO confirms electric sports car to replace current 718 in 2025

On Friday 18 March Porsche held its annual press conference, and much of it expounded the sort of information one expects from such an event. However, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Porsche AG Oliver Blume injected a bit of excitement by officially confirming that the next-generation 718 will be all-electric by 2025, and the automaker expects 80% of vehicles it sells to be electric by 2030.

The announcement comes after Porsche sold more vehicles than it ever had in 2021; 301,915, which also marks the first time the company sold more than 300,000. Of the vehicles sold, 38,464 of them were 911s, also a record for the venerable rear-engined sports car. And while we’re happy to see it selling well, it must be noted that Porsche’s only EV, the Taycan, outsold the 911 by nearly 3,000 units. The 718? At 20,502 customer deliveries, the Taycan beat it two-fold.

With sales of the current internal combustion engine 718 lagging behind its stablemates, Porsche made a shrewd decision to move the model line into the EV space, where electric two-seat sports cars are rare. Sedans and supercars are currently consumers’ best choices for electric performance, with nothing in between. The EV 718 (if it’s actually called 718) likely will be one of the few two-door EV sports cars when it’s launched. Fortunately, we don’t need to merely imagine how the EV 718 will look, because the Mission R electric race car concept wasn’t designed in a vacuum. The automaker traditionally does not release concept cars without giving them consideration for series production in some form or another, and the Mission R has more than a hint of the Boxster’s and Cayman’s spirit in it. In fact, its battery is located behind the rear firewall, not under the floor, which should give it handling characteristics that are closer to Porsche’s mid-engined 718 than a Taycan. Just look at how the Mission E became the Taycan and the Boxster Concept became the 986, and it’s not a stretch to say that at least some of the Mission R makes it into the production EV 718.

Here’s another fun fact: 40% of Porsche vehicles sold in Europe are either hybrids or EVs, meaning the automaker’s goal of reaching an EV sales volume of 50% of all its vehicles by 2025 isn’t unrealistic. 80% by 2030 seems very reasonable, though it leaves us wondering what won’t be all-electric by then. Our guess would be the 911.

With the increased EV production comes another need: batteries. To that end, Porsche helped to found and invested heavily in battery startup Cellforce Group, which will produce high-performance batteries for the German automaker. Cellforce’s batteries will be ready for series production in 2024. Porsche also will be building its own charging infrastructure, adding to the plethora of charging stations already available to consumers in North America, including the VW-backed Electrify America.

We now have a solid grasp on at least part of Porsche’s plan for the future, and the official word is a lot of electrification. The next EV Porsche will produce is the 2023 Macan EV, followed by the 2025 718 EV. How Porsche will evolve from there is still clouded in mystery, but we’ve been hearing rumors of a hybrid 911…