The loss is not simply a car disappearing from a showroom. It is the freedom to specify your own Cayman or Boxster: the transmission, seats, color and options that turn a production sports car into something personal. That opportunity closed for the combustion-engined Type 982 Porsche 718 in the United States in 2025. By September 3, Porsche Cars North America had confirmed the order closure to Autoblog.
That is now history, not a fresh announcement. Porsche subsequently confirmed that 718 production ended in October 2025. But the end of factory orders, the end of production and the sale of the final new car are different milestones. Understanding those distinctions makes the story more useful than a simple farewell—and leaves room to appreciate what this generation offered without declaring the Boxster and Cayman names dead.
Closed order books do not mean every car is sold
Autoblog’s September 2025 report attributed its confirmation to Porsche spokesperson Luke Vandezande. At that point, cars were still being manufactured, but customers could no longer place new orders for the Type 982 Boxster or Cayman. The report establishes that orders were closed by its publication date; it does not establish the precise day Porsche accepted its last American order.
The distinction becomes clearer in Porsche’s own sales figures. Its first-half 2026 U.S. report recorded 244 new 718 deliveries, including 38 in the second quarter. Those transactions occurred after production had ended. They illustrate the sales tail of an outgoing model, not a reopened production line.
Nor does that historical tally establish how many unsold cars remain now. A shopper needs a specific vehicle and confirmation from the selling dealer, rather than an assumption that an old model page represents an available factory allocation.
The 718 was more than one engine
Remembering the outgoing range as a single mechanical recipe misses one of its defining tensions. Porsche’s 2017-model-year Cayman announcement specified a 300-hp turbocharged 2.0-liter flat-four for the base car and a 350-hp 2.5-liter for the S. The base engine’s manufacturer-rated 280 lb-ft arrived across 1,950–4,500 rpm. That broad torque band points to the engineering emphasis: useful thrust without always chasing the top of the tachometer.
The GTS 4.0 offered a different answer. In its U.S. 2021 model announcement, Porsche specified a naturally aspirated 4.0-liter flat-six producing 394 hp, with a six-speed manual standard and a seven-speed PDK dual-clutch transmission optional. These are manufacturer specifications, not independent test results.
That choice matters more than treating every 718 as interchangeable. A manual asks the driver to coordinate clutch operation and gear selection; PDK trades that particular interaction for automated clutch control and rapid shifts. Likewise, a turbocharged four-cylinder and a naturally aspirated six-cylinder offer different routes to performance. The loss of the order book removed the ability to choose among those combinations at the factory.
The GTS also included PASM Sport Suspension and a mechanical limited-slip differential. Those details establish its enthusiast focus without requiring an invented first-person verdict about steering feel or ride quality.
Do not confuse the American shutdown with Europe’s restrictions
The regulatory explanation needs care. In its July 8, 2025 delivery update, Porsche linked constrained 718 availability to EU cybersecurity regulations. The same statement forecast the generation’s production phaseout in the fourth quarter of 2025.
That is not evidence that a new American emissions rule directly closed U.S. order books. The responsible distinction is between a regional availability restriction and the broader retirement of a generation. They overlapped, but they are not interchangeable explanations.
It also changes the emotional framing. The documented sequence was a production phaseout with regional complications, not evidence that a sports car could be erased overnight by one regulation. For buyers, the practical consequence was still significant: waiting eventually ceased to be an option for a personally specified combustion 718.
The next chapter has a newer timetable
Porsche’s future plans should be dated just as carefully as its production history. In its October 7, 2026 strategy announcement, the company identified all-electric 718 Boxster and Cayman models and described 2028 as their expected first full production year.
That wording is a planning milestone, not a guaranteed American delivery date. It does not establish U.S. pricing, final specifications or the date customers can begin placing orders. Those details should not be filled in with predictions inherited from older coverage.
The same announcement retained Porsche’s broader commitment to combustion, plug-in-hybrid and battery-electric powertrains. Consequently, the 718’s transition should not be mistaken for a declaration that every future Porsche will be electric. The narrower, supported conclusion is that the company still plans electric successors bearing the Boxster and Cayman names.
Buy the specification, not the farewell
For someone seeking an outgoing 718, Porsche Finder separates new, used and Porsche Approved inventory. Treat it as a starting point for identifying an actual car, not proof that a listing remains available. Ask the dealer to confirm the VIN, model year, transmission, equipment and sale status before making travel plans.
More importantly, decide which compromises you actually want to make. Do not let a last-chance narrative persuade you to accept the wrong transmission or abandon a carefully chosen budget. A car already built cannot be reconfigured into the factory order you wished you had placed.
The meaningful ending here is specific: one generation’s build-to-order freedom has gone. Its cars remain, and its successors have their own story to prove. Appreciating the combustion 718 does not require predicting its future value or dismissing an electric replacement before it arrives. It requires understanding which version you want—and why.
Cover: A 2022 Porsche 718 Cayman GTS 4.0 photographed in Britain in September 2023, illustrating the outgoing Type 982 generation. This is not a final-production car or a claim of current U.S. inventory. Photo: Calreyn88 / Wikimedia Commons · Photo source · CC BY 4.0. Uncropped original photograph; WordPress may create display-size derivatives.
Sources
- Porsche Just Stopped Taking Orders for Gas 718 Boxster and Cayman in the US
- Expected decline in sales due to limited product availability
- Porsche reports U.S. retail sales for half year 2026
- Poised for precision: The new 2017 Porsche 718 Cayman
- The 2021 Porsche 718 Boxster and Cayman models
- Porsche Macan, best-selling model line: almost 60 per cent fully electric
- New sports cars, greater exclusivity, stronger profitability: Porsche presents new strategy through to 2035
- New and Used Porsche Cars | Porsche Finder US
- Legal Notice — Porsche Newsroom USA
