Facelifted Porsche Boxster, Cayman to be rebadged as 718

Porsche has announced a change in name of its Boxster and Cayman models following the arrival of the facelifted models. The models will now bear a prefix of 718 alongside their current name.

The 718 moniker harks back to the Porsche 718 open-cockpit racing car of 1957 – a model which was powered by a flat-four engine and won its category at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race in 1958.

In addition to the renaming, the Boxster and Cayman facelifts are to be equipped with a new range of turbocharged flat-four engines with displacements between 1.6-litre and 2.5-litre. In a previous report we had confirmed that the two cars would be getting 2.0-litre and 2.5-litre turbocharged horizontally opposed four-cylinder engines. Now a new 1.6-litre unit is also expected to join the range. The Boxster Spyder and Cayman GT4 models will continue to be powered by the current 3.4-litre flat-six engines.

The 718 Boxster and 718 Cayman are set to make their debut in mid 2016, before going on sale internationally.