Foreign sports cars in China are prohibitively expensive, for two main reasons: steep import tariffs and massive taxes for large-displacement engines. To avoid the former, non-Chinese automakers build vehicles in China, and to do so requires them to form joint ventures with Chinese automakers. But this latest bit of news from Porsche has to do with neither of these things, as the company’s 718 Cayman and 718 Boxster sports cars’ engine size and assembly location aren’t changing for the Chinese market. Porsche is, however, dropping the horsepower along with the price of its entry-level Cayman and Boxster that will now start at just under the equivalent of $90,000 in the People’s Republic.
Although that’s no deal, it is about $15,000 less than the previous base model. That “magical threshold” of $90,000 (600,000 yuan) is apparently the difference between moving cars and letting them sit in the world’s fastest-growing auto market, Porsche told Automotive News Europe. Over here, that kind of price commands a 2017 718 Cayman S decked out with the biggest wheels and softest leather, not to mention all kinds of extra performance add-ons like the Sport Chrono package and Sport exhaust.
In China, however, 90 grand will grab a base Cayman or Boxster with its 2.0-liter turbo flat-four downgraded to 250 horsepower and 229 pound-feet of torque, or the same power and even less torque than a Subaru Forester XT (which also has a tu...