Why Used Porsche 718 Caymans Now Cost 911 Carrera T Money
Porsche‘s decision to push the next-generation electric 718 Cayman and 718 Boxster to at least 2027 — with new CEO Michael Leiters openly reviewing whether the EV program survives at all — has done something remarkable to the used market: it has turned outgoing combustion 718s into last-call collector cars almost overnight. Buyers are now paying prices that rival a new 911 Carrera T for pre-owned examples, a price inversion that would have been unthinkable just two years ago.
The numbers back it up. CarGurus data shows the 718 Cayman up more than 7 percent in the past 30 days and over 8 percent across 90 days, with an average transaction price hovering around $149,000. The Boxster is trending above $161,000 on average. Meanwhile, worldwide 718 deliveries fell 73 percent in the first half of 2026 as production wound down — a supply squeeze meeting a demand surge in real time.
How Porsche’s EV Promise Collapsed Into A Market Frenzy
Back in March 2022, then-CEO Oliver Blume made it plain: “By the middle of the decade, we want to offer our mid-engine 718 sports car exclusively in an all-electric form.” The 718 lineage stretches back to the original Boxster in 1997, with the Cayman hard-top following in 2006 — both running combustion power through every single unit ever built. An all-electric successor was a significant promise.
Reality had other plans. By late 2024, Deputy CEO Lutz Meschke was already walking it back, acknowledging “a clear trend in the premium luxury segment in the direction of combustion-engine cars.” Then came the battery problem: Northvolt, the supplier tasked with developing a bespoke, performance-tuned battery pack for the 718 EV, went bankrupt before the work was complete, forcing Porsche to pause and source alternative technology. Add leadership shakeups, schedule overruns, a 26 percent sales drop in China, and a brutal 2.1 billion dollar hit to operating profit in 2025, and the all-electric 718 went from flagship commitment to open question.
The GTS 4.0 Is The Sleeper Pick — And The Market Knows It
The holy-grail spec right now is the 2025 718 GTS 4.0 — the naturally aspirated flat-six variant that enthusiasts have always argued is the purest 718 ever made. Kelley Blue Book private-party values for that car currently sit between $117,000 and $124,000 for a model that originally stickered around $102,000. That’s a clean premium over new cost, and it’s only going one direction.
The 2025 Cayman GT4 RS is more volatile — down about 2 percent recently — but fair-condition examples still command around $184,000, and concours units clear $200,000 comfortably. The 2025 Cayman S is climbing 2 to 5 percent since late last year, ranging from roughly $92,000 in fair condition to about $117,000 at concours level. iSeeCars rates the Cayman’s value retention at 9.9 out of 10 — second only to the 911 Coupe’s perfect score among all Porsche models. The market is not being subtle about what it thinks these cars are worth.
Dodge Wrote This Playbook First — And It Ended The Same Way
This script is familiar. When Dodge announced the end of the combustion Challenger and Charger, buyers didn’t line up for the incoming Charger Daytona EV — they panicked, swept up remaining Last Call inventory, and turned the final Hellcat-powered models into overnight classics. The Dodge Hornet PHEV, meanwhile, arrived as an expensive rebadged Italian crossover plagued by reliability issues, suffered massive price cuts, and was eventually discontinued. The electric Charger Daytona, burdened by synthetic exhaust sounds and a 5,800-pound curb weight, cratered in sales and forced combustion engines back into the lineup to limit the reputational damage.
The lesson both companies are learning the hard way: even billions in EV investment can’t manufacture passion from the most discerning buyers. Porsche’s customer base is at least as discerning as Dodge’s — and the used 718 market is making that point with every transaction.
What Porsche’s Fall Update Could Mean For The 718’s Future
An update from Porsche is expected this fall that should clarify where the 718 platform is actually heading. AutoCar reported late last year that senior sources at Porsche’s engineering center confirmed the all-electric 718 platform is being reworked to accommodate a mid-mounted gas engine — a significant reversal from the original all-EV mandate. CEO Leiters, speaking to Frankfurter Allgemeine, confirmed the electric 718 will be built, describing it as “the best solution economically” — but the platform’s dual-fuel flexibility suggests Porsche is hedging, hard.
For buyers already in the market, the uncertainty cuts both ways. If a combustion-capable next-gen 718 arrives, current used prices may soften. If it doesn’t — if the outgoing generation truly represents the last naturally aspirated, mid-engine Porsche in this form — the GTS 4.0 and GT4 RS examples trading hands today will look like bargains in hindsight. The market is already betting on the latter. Porsche enthusiasts hoping for a combustion reprieve should watch that fall announcement closely.
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