Porsche Gentrifying ICE Is Just The Start Of Rich-Only Features

Forget ABC reinstating Jimmy Kimmel and all the drama that ensued. This week’s most important and welcome U-turn news is Porsche’s decision to bring combustion power back to the 718 Boxster and Cayman. The next-generation cars due in 2026 were designed as EVs, but in response to customer demand and slowing EV growth Porsche will introduce top-tier ICE options a couple of years into the life cycle.

Related: Porsche Might Give Manual Fans More Of What They Want

‘Top-tier’ is the crucial qualifier in that last statement. The regular 718s will still come only with EV power, but Porsche’s wealthiest customers will be able to upgrade to a flat-six combustion engine. In a way, this situation isn’t much different to how Porsche made six-cylinder engines a premium option on the outgoing 718s when the base cars switched to turbocharged boxer fours in 2016. In that case GTS models up and up got the sixes, but we don’t know if this time around they might be reserved for the GT4 and Spyder.

Power to the Privileged

We bet Porsche won’t be the only automaker who keeps combustion engines on the menu for its richest fans going forward. And the sound of a real rather than synthesized exhaust soundtrack is just one of the features that appeals to enthusiasts and which might be out of the reach of many in the coming years.

Manual gearshifts could very well be another. In fact, that’s already happening, turning automatic transmissions, once a premium feature, into the default choice, and charging more for the simpler manual alternative. You can’t, for example, buy a base 911 Carrera with a stick shift – to row your own gears, you have to upgrade to the Carrera T or GT3. The same thinking has also been applied to much more affordable cars. Acura, for one, won’t let you equip your Integra with a manual unless you step up to the A-spec.

When Simple Becomes Special

Once the last of the low-tech, old fashioned naturally-aspirated, four-cylinder engines that are still available on some entry-level US cars have gone, turbo-free motors will be also be seen as the peak of automotive engineering and desirability.

Well-off petrolheads will pay top dollar because they deliver all the emotion that EVs and even turbocharged combustion engines don’t. We’re already seeing this with the GMA T.50, Aston Martin Valkyrie, Porsche 911 GT3 RS and Bugatti’s Tourbillon.

The Tourbillon also boasts another almost retro feature that sets it apart from most other cars. It has one of the best dashboards in the world, not because it has the biggest digital display, but because it hardly has any digital real estate at all.

It’s not hard to see where this could lead a few decades from now. Mercedes’ Drive Pilot L3 semi-autonomous package is a pricey option in 2025, but who’d bet against a steering wheel and big ADAS-OFF button carrying a massive premium in the future, even if close courses are the only place we’re allowed to experience real driving?

With all of the above in mind, what feature that we take for granted on today’s cars would you be willing to pay extra for tomorrow?