Porsche Boxster

The Boxster is a mid-engined roadster. The Boxster is Porsche's first road vehicle since the 550 Spyder that was originally designed as a roadster. The first-generation Boxster (the 986) was introduced in late 1996 as a 1997 model; it was powered by a 2.5 litre flat six-cylinder engine. In 2000, the new Boxster S variant was introduced with a larger 3.2 L motor, and the base model received a more powerful 2.7 L engine. In 2003, styling and engine output was upgraded.

Through consultation with Toyota, Porsche greatly reduced the cost of manufacture, and introduced large-scale sharing of components between its models. The 986 Boxster had the same bonnet, front wings, and distinctive headlight units as the 996. Its original 2.5L M96 engine shared the same architecture with the 3.4L engine used in the 996. Many believe the combination of the new Boxster / 911 styling and the reduced build costs through component sharing saved Porsche from being acquired by another car company.

In 2004 the 550 Spyder 50th Anniversary Edition was released, with a production run of 1953 cars. These were all painted GT Silver Metallic, and had unique cocoa-brown full-leather interior with grey natural leather. Each car also had special interior paintwork, a high-end BOSE sound system, two-tone grey and silver 18" Carrera wheels, 5 mm wheel spacers, the Boxster S sport exhaust, the M030 option sports suspension, and a plate on the center console piece commonly known as the "batwing" showing the production number.

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