The small roadster that pulled Porsche out of its early 1990s slump
In 1991 Porsche was in serious trouble, its 928 selling poorly and the 968 a heavy rework of an older car. Its answer was a cheaper mid-engine roadster that shared parts with the 911 and borrowed cost-cutting ideas from Toyota. The Boxster became the company's biggest seller until the Cayenne arrived.
Development of a successor began in February 1992, and by June design chief Harm Lagaay had picked a proposal by Grant Larson and Pinky Lai from four candidates. A show car was rushed out for the North American International Auto Show in January 1993, where press and public loved it. Larson drew on the 356 Cabriolet, the Speedster and the 550 Spyder, and the production Type 986 went on sale in late 1996 with a 2.5-litre flat-six.
The savings came from sharing. After consulting Toyota, Porsche began using common parts widely, and the Boxster reached showrooms before the new 911 while using the same bonnet, front wings, headlights, interior and engine layout. Its water-cooled M96 engine, Porsche's first water-cooled unit not mounted at the front, sat in the middle for balanced handling. Early blocks suffered casting flaws, including porosity and cracked or slipped cylinder liners, fixed by late 1999.
The name blends boxer, for the flat engine, with Speedster. Its coupe sibling, launched in late 2005, took a spelling of caiman, the relative of the alligator. When the Cayman reached dealers, Porsche adopted four caimans at Stuttgart's Wilhelma Zoo, and in 2009 it won an injunction in Germany stopping Crocs Europe from selling a clog under the same name. Caymans were built under contract in Uusikaupunki, Finland, until production moved to the former Karmann plant in Osnabruck after 2012.
In 2016 both cars became the 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman, swapping flat-six engines for small turbocharged flat-fours, and the coupe was priced below the roadster. Production of both ended in October 2025, with electric successors promised only in the medium term.
Source: Porsche Boxster and Cayman
