Porsche was alphanumeric when alphanumeric was merely a Teutonic quirk, rather than an industry-wide plague that?s seen the demise of naming creativity across the luxury segment. The German sports-car company has churned out famous automobiles with numbers and/or letters from its very inception, including the 356, 550A, and 928 S4. Then, just as Acura was abandoning the beloved Legend nameplate to swim in a confusing morass of things that end in ?X?, Zuffenhausen introduced the Boxster. Porsche promptly followed it up with the Cayenne, Cayman, Panamera, and Macan, leaving only the 911 to soldier on with legacy digits. That?s about to change, as the Boxster and Cayman will swap places in Porsche?s pricing hierarchy and gain a three-digit code in front of their names: 718. Of course, ?718? isn?t exactly a number new to Porsche. An evolution of the giant-slaying 550, the 718 spawned numerous variants, including the RSK, the eight-cylinder W-RS, and even open-wheeled variants for Formula 1 and 2 racing. One might note that all of the 718’s mutations were racing vehicles, while the Boxster/Cayman siblings have been decidedly slanted toward road duty for the majority of their lives, with the Rennsport-ready GT4 Clubsport announced only last month.
Porsche also confirms the rumor that the 10Best-winning Boxster and Cayman are set to switch places in the lineup with the renamed 718 Boxster now requiring the laydown of a prettier penny than the 718 Cayman. Which is probably...