Supply Woes Continue as Porsche Pushes Back Electric Boxster/Cayman Launch Again
Porsche has delayed the launch of its all-electric versions of the 718 Boxster and Cayman for the second time over difficulties sourcing the models' high-performance battery cells. In April, Porsche said drivers could expect the two electric vehicles (EVs) in 2026, but the automaker's most recent delay pushes the release to at least 2027. The 718 pair's postponed launch primarily centers around Swedish battery maker Northvolt's bankruptcy late last year, which Porsche heavily relied on for high-energy-density cells in its electric sports cars. The Porsche Taycan EV, on the other hand, uses cells from LG Chem in South Korea.
Porsche previously announced plans to electrify 80% of its worldwide fleet by 2030. "Because the battery electric adoption is behind schedule, Porsche now has to develop additional combustion models on top of dealing with the costly delays in BEV ramp-up, as well as managing the weak situation in China and uncertainty around U.S. exports," Fabio Hölscher, analyst at Warburg Research, said according to Automotive News.
Lower-than-expected EV demand also influenced Porsche's decision to delay its 718 Boxster and Cayman. Porsche cut 1,900 research and manufacturing jobs across its main German facilities in February because of a lagging electromobility ramp-up. The automaker formed the Cellforce Group in June 2021 to develop and create battery cells, but steep competition from Chinese rivals hurt the company's investment prospects for a production launch, according to Carscoops.
In mid-2024, Porsche pulled its gas-powered Boxster and Cayman from European markets due to cybersecurity regulations. Meeting the new regulations, which took effect July 1, 2024, would require Porsche to completely re-engineer the gas-powered 718 Boxster and Cayman late in their life cycle. However, limited-edition variants like the Cayman GT4 RS and Boxster RS are exempt from the regulations. Remaining sales of the 718 Boxster and Cayman in other markets will conclude at the end of 2025.
Amid troubled EV development, declining sales in China, and U.S. export tariffs, Porsche's CEO, Oliver Blume, also CEO of Porsche's parent company, Volkswagen, is facing increased pressure from Volkswagen shareholders to focus on one company instead of both. Similarly, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has faced criticism for splitting his time between multiple companies and assuming the role of a special government employee. During Tesla's Q1 results call last month, Musk stated he'd be reducing his time working with the Trump administration to prioritize Tesla. Blume noted that the decision to maintain or change his role as Volkswagen and Porsche CEO lay with each respective non-executive board of directors, Fortune reports."It has been clear since the beginning that the dual role is not intended to last forever," Blume said.
The significance of Porsche delaying the 718 Boxster and Cayman for a second time is underscored by its struggles against U.S. auto import tariffs. Porsche doesn't have any manufacturing facilities in the U.S., and recently confirmed a few weeks ago that they have no plans to expand into the U.S., considering the company's low sales figures, according to Reuters. The German automaker's finance chief, Jochen Breckner, clarified that while Porsche hasn't raised prices, it will if U.S. tariffs remain in place. Given that the Boxster and Cayman have served as entry-level models for Porsche's lineup, the combination of a delay and raised prices won't do their debut any favors.
Copyright 2025 The Arena Group, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
28 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Stock Market Today: Dow Jones Gains As Iran Attacks U.S. Forces; Tesla Surges, These Defense Stocks Gain (Live Coverage)
The Dow Jones rose Monday despite Iran attacking U.S. bases. Cathie Wood stock Circle popped. Tesla stock surged on the stock market today.
Miami Herald
33 minutes ago
- Miami Herald
Forget Tesla, Ford is eyeing even bigger EV rivals
When most Americans think of electric vehicles, the first brand that comes to mind is Tesla. The brand revolutionized the EV market in the U.S. by making the first mass-market EV with broad commercial appeal. Until recently, Tesla has dominated the U.S. market, but in recent years, its market share has dropped from 70% to 43.4% in the first quarter of 2025. Related: Ford reports another blowout sales month, but trouble could be ahead Now, newcomers from legacy car brands like General Motors and Ford are gobbling up market share as they look to knock Tesla from the top spot. U.S. electric vehicle sales volume jumped 11.4% year over year in the first quarter to 294,250 vehicles sold. This jump was led by GM, which doubled its EV sales from a year ago, while Ford EV sales were up only modestly. Battery electric vehicles reached 7.5% of all new car sales in the first quarter, an improvement from a year ago, but short of the 8.7% peak reached in Q4 2024. GM went from selling 457 EVs in Q1 2022 to nearly 32,000 in Q1 2025. After a disastrous start to the year, Tesla is basically back where it started in 2022 when it sold 129,743. Ford went from selling 6,734 to 22,500 over the same period, but its path has been anything but straight. The company has struggled with inconsistent sales and elusive profitability. However, Ford remains unbowed, and the company has its sights set on a much bigger prize than the U.S. car market. Image source: Olson/Getty Images Ford's electric vehicle division, Ford Model e, lost $5.1 billion in 2024. That was an increase from the $4.7 billion it lost in 2023. The company says it expects to lose $5.5 billion this year. But despite the daunting landscape, the company thinks it has what it takes to turn its fortunes around. Part of that strategy is making an affordable EV that can compete with Chinese models currently dominating the market. Lisa Drake, who leads Ford's EV industrial plan, recently spoke wth investors during a "candid dinner discussion" hosted by Bernstein lead automotive analyst Daniel Roeska. Related: Ford loses its last cheap vehicle to tariffs "Lisa Drake was explicit: Ford intends to match the cost structure of leading Chinese players. That means not just battery pricing, but full system cost from chassis and thermal systems to inverters and electronics," Roeska wrote, according to Axios. Ford will use its Advanced Electric Vehicle program to build an EV platform that will support eight different body styles, including trucks, crossovers, and possibly sedans. So Ford believes it can compete wth the BYDs of the world that dominate the Chinese EV market, which is much larger than the U.S. one. Ford has already announced that the first product will be a mid-sized pickup. But it will rely on an estimated $700 million federal tax credit this year that a Republican-led Congress could easily cancel. Ford released its May car sales report on Tuesday, June 3. The company reported a 16.3% increase in May sales to 220,959, mainly due to its biggest, most gas-guzzling models. Ford SUVs saw a 23% sales increase to 83,000, led by the Explorer, which had over 20,500 sold in the month. Meanwhile, Ford Trucks saw an 11.2% increase to 121,354 units sold. Overall, Ford has sold 930,925 vehicles to date, a 6.1% year-over-year increase, despite the specter of tariffs upsetting the whole apple cart. However, one area for the company that wasn't in the green was electric vehicle sales. More Ford news Popular Ford newcomer overtakes Jeep in a key areaFord CEO Jim Farley has a strong take on tariffsFord loses its last cheap vehicle to tariffs Ford sold 25% fewer electric vehicles this month than last, accelerating a declining sales trend for a segment of the company's brand that had been experiencing growth. The Mustang Mach-E was the lone electric vehicle model to see sales growth, with an 11% increase to 4,274. In fact, the Mach E is inching toward overtaking its non-electric brother in sales. Mustang sales were down 3% in the month to just over 5,000 sold. Related: Ford CEO Jim Farley has a strong take on tariffs The Arena Media Brands, LLC THESTREET is a registered trademark of TheStreet, Inc.
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Melinda French Gates says some tech titans siding with Trump are doing ‘what some comms person' tells them instead of living by their values
Silicon Valley has seen a noticeable shift to the right, with several tech leaders engaging more closely with the current administration, a trend Melinda French Gates views critically, especially when it comes to leaders not living by their stated values. The shift in Silicon Valley in the lead-up to, and since, the presidential election has been marked. Billionaire tech titans have been in and out of the White House and Trump's residence at Mar-a-Lago, with many lending their voices to the second Trump administration. But Melinda French Gates, a veteran of the tech scene since her early days working for Microsoft, is concerned by Silicon Valley's political shift to the right, particularly when powerful individuals aren't living by their values. French Gates's ex-husband, Bill Gates, sat down with the president after he won the Oval Office and spoke with Trump about his philanthropic efforts. Since then, Microsoft's cofounder has been unimpressed by some of the actions taken by the White House, namely through its Department of Government Efficiency, formerly led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk. While Musk was a major financial and political partner to the Trump 2.0 team, the ranks of those affiliating themselves with the current administration include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai, Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Apple CEO Tim Cook, all of whom were given prime spots for the president's January inauguration. But a wider shift to the right among the tech community has also been observed by people like venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who said dinner parties in Silicon Valley are now split across the political spectrum, where previously most leaned left. Andreessen, who was previously a self-described Democrat 'in good standing,' told a podcast earlier this year that there are now two types of dinner parties, one being 'the ones where every person there believes every single thing that was in the New York Times that day…and that is what they talk about at the dinner party. And I'm no longer invited to those, nor do I want to go to them.' French Gates, on the other hand, said now more than ever, people in power should be sticking to their values, having previously told Fortune she intends to set more of an agenda in the U.S. Speaking on the latest episode of Bloomberg's The Circuit podcast, the billionaire philanthropist and businesswoman said: 'What I have seen in the last six months to a year is, many people who used to say one thing have absolutely shifted over here,' she said—gesturing to the right. 'A democracy is made up by our beliefs and our investments and our values. We, of all times right now, should be living those values out, not pivoting to what some comms person tells us is the right thing to do. That would be ridiculous.' Like her former husband and cofounder at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, French Gates was critical of the supreme power awarded to Tesla CEO Elon Musk as a special government employee. While the relationship between Musk and Trump has now cooled off somewhat, French Gates—an advocate for women's and girls' rights—added that handing an entrepreneur with private business interests so much power was 'unprecedented' and 'made no sense' to her. Shifts toward a more right-wing mentality have also been observed across corporate America as DEI initiatives have been scaled back. Here, French Gates said, history will not be kind to the companies that undid some of their policies fostering diversity, equality, and inclusion. 'You have to look at society,' the philanthropist said. 'Who's in our society right now and does our democracy, do our state legislatures and does our Senate or our Congress look like society? The answer is no. 'The reason you need to have of all society representative in the legislature in any governing body is because they make good policy based on their lived experience.' Data supports French Gates's opinion. While the 119th Congress is the most racially and ethnically diverse group in history, it remains far less diverse than the American population as a whole. In January, Pew Research found 139 of today's senators and representatives identify as Black, Hispanic, Asian American, or Native American, continuing a trend of Congress becoming more diverse. However, this figure is still a long way off the social makeup of the voters the legislative body represents. Pew found that non-Hispanic white people make up a larger share of Congress (74%) than the overall population (58%), indeed the gap is about as wide as it was more than 40 years ago in 1981, when 94% of congressional lawmakers were white, compared with 80% of the U.S. population. This story was originally featured on
