Earnings calls are usually about as exciting as watching paint dry, with executives discussing margins, forecasts, and other financial matters that rarely make for riveting reading. Now and then, though, someone drops a juicy tidbit that makes the corporate talk worth it.

Case in point: Porsche has effectively confirmed that Audi's upcoming electric sports car will borrow the platform developed for the next-generation 718 Boxster and Cayman. During Zuffenhausen’s third-quarter 2026 earnings call, CFO Jochen Breckner made the connection surprisingly clear while discussing the company's cooperation with Audi.

'We are offering our electric platform for the 718 Boxster and Cayman, which is about to be launched next year for an Audi project. They call it C-Sport internally, and we will get cash from their side. That payment is expected to come in 2027.'

2025 Audi Concept C

Photo by: Audi

There you have it. Porsche is supplying Audi's gorgeous two-seater with the electric architecture it developed for its next-generation sports cars. We saw this coming more than a year ago, when Ingolstadt’s Daniel Schuster, spokesperson for Technical Development, told us the car would sit on a platform “that will be shared within the [Volkswagen] Group.” Now, Porsche is connecting the dots.

Audi has been working with Porsche on the project as part of a broader effort to share development costs and technology within the Volkswagen Group. The result will be an electric sports car that sits somewhere between the TT and R8, albeit without a combustion engine. The equivalent 718 models will also be purely electric.

Sharing a platform makes plenty of sense, especially for what will ultimately be three niche products. Developing a dedicated sports-car architecture is expensive, particularly for electric vehicles, where battery packaging, weight distribution, cooling, and performance targets all add complexity. By sharing the underlying hardware, Porsche and Audi can spread those costs while giving each car its own identity.

That doesn't mean the two cars will be identical. Audi will have room to differentiate its model through exterior and interior design, suspension tuning, power output, and other characteristics. After all, the VW Group has done this for decades, and despite the company's biggest cost-cutting plan in its history, the trio is still very much happening. This partnership is a two-way street, as the return of the combustion-engine Macan will once again be based on the Q5.

2025 Audi Concept C

Photos by: Audi

2025 Audi Concept C

Photos by: Audi

While the next-generation Boxster and Cayman will once again come with a folding fabric roof and a fixed coupe roof, respectively, Audi’s version will exclusively feature an electrically operated targa roof. The production version of the Concept C will actually be the first Audi with this roof setup in the company's history. Two roof panels will stow neatly under the rear deck, allowing the car to transform from a coupe into an open-top sports car.

The technical specifications remain shrouded in mystery, but we do know Porsche will place the batteries where the gasoline engine used to sit in the now-defunct combustion-powered 718 Boxster and Cayman. This will enable a lower seating position, better weight distribution, and improved structural rigidity. Love them or loathe them, the plan also includes simulated gear changes and artificial engine sounds.

As for the Audi, the Concept C featured a rear-wheel-drive setup with a single motor, but the company said its platform would accommodate a front motor for a quattro setup. Weight is the enemy of performance, and Audi says the concept tipped the scales at 3,725 pounds (1,690 kilograms). Could be worse, could be better.

What about the size? The Concept C measures 4,520 millimeters (178 inches) long, 1,970 mm (77.6 in) wide, and 1,285 mm (50.6 in) tall. Those proportions make it slightly larger than the R8, so expect the production version to be considerably bigger than a TT.

The Concept C means much more to Audi than simply bringing back a two-door car after discontinuing all of them in recent years. It marks the beginning of a new design language that will influence the rest of the lineup, both inside and out.

The company is completely rethinking its interiors after years of oversized screens, touch-sensitive controls, seas of glossy plastic, and materials that haven’t always lived up to the brand’s reputation. The Concept C previews a different approach, with less emphasis on displays, more physical buttons and switches, and higher-quality materials, including real metal instead of cheap-looking substitutes.

What do you think?

In other words, this isn’t just about creating a pretty electric sports car; it’s about rediscovering what makes an Audi an Audi, even if the sports car itself will have Porsche underpinnings…

Porsche has already confirmed it will unveil the new electric Boxster and Cayman next year, but it’s unclear whether we’ll see both body styles at the same time. Audi’s production version of the Concept C is also scheduled to debut in 2027.

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Extracted and lightly reformatted for readability. · Source: pt