Porsche had a Cayman with an eight-cylinder boxer engine

Porsche couldn’t count on much sympathy when the brand returned the 718 name to the Cayman. Not out of respect for the old racing, but because the Cayman got four cylinders. Porsche later modified this with a six-cylinder boxer, but it could have been two more. A Porsche employee announces that the brand was working on an eight-cylinder boxer engine.

This is evident from the interview of Intercooler — with Marcos Marques. He is the eFuels project manager within Porsche. When asked about the choice of four cylinders, Marques starts with politically correct answers, but then opens up about the development of Cayman. ‘Before it was [de Porsche Cayman] the biggest project,” says Marques.

He also says that the four cylinder was meant for another car. What would constitute a “big project” for Cayman? That’s right, a 5.0-liter eight-cylinder engine with two turbos. Imagine that. And it wasn’t just an eight-cylinder idea. Porsche built the engine and used it in conjunction with the Cayman platform. The test car could even drive thousands of test kilometers in Weissach.

Details of Porsche’s eight-cylinder boxer engine

Marques even offers custom specs. The Porsche would get 760 hp and 1,000 Nm of torque from the eight-cylinder boxer engine. In addition, he would have a manual gearbox and the red line must be at 9,000 rpm. Six-cylinder boxers from the current Cayman GT4 RS and 911 GT3 RS will be envious of those power figures. Unfortunately, it’s still not as powerful as the 918 Spyder. The car’s V8 hybrid engine produces 887 hp and 1,279 Nm.

Why did Porsche discontinue the eight-cylinder boxer engine?

Marques has seen the special Cayman with his own eyes and heard with his ears. According to him, it was “a crazy car that sounded great.” So why the hell not build it? According to Marques, the timing was wrong.

“Basically we are an engineering company and we are always looking for new answers, different solutions and sometimes those answers are not needed at the time, but that is all part of the process,” says the project manager. Perhaps the imminent end of combustion engines is a good reason to release a limited edition?