What does the future look like for the 986?

[JFP in PA]

Manufacturers, particularly those in Europe, clearly see the electric wave coming their way, and are all scrambling to get ahead of it.

People seem to forget that two cars: the Boxster and the Cayenne were desperation moves to try and prevent Porsche bankruptcy in the late 1990's. The Boxster was considered to be an "entry level" car to try and rescue Porsche's financial decline and were priced accordingly. The current crop of 4-cylinder Boxster's are getting hard to find for less than near $100K, which puts them out of reach for the market they were designed to attract. A recent visit to a dealer to pick up some parts found a show room floor with nothing on it priced less than $135,000, and even one 911 variant knocking on the door of $300,000. Porsche, like all European manufacturers are going to be required to have a certain percentage of zero emissions vehicles in their line up in the very near future, and as they do not want to cannibalize their very profitable 911 market, they are converting the Boxster line to all electric.

Car companies only make drastic changes for two reasons: Either they are required to by legislation, or as a desperation move to prevent them from failing.