Production of the Porsche Boxster/Cayman rolls past 300,000

Nearly 15 years after Porsche spawned the much-adored Boxster and its hardtop cousin, the Cayman, production of the two-seater has passed 300,000 copies.

For Porsche, that's a major milestone. But it's a relatively small number compared with high-volume models. For example, Mazda has churned out 900,000 units of the MX-5 Miata in 22 years since its 1989 release. And Chevrolet built about 370,000 copies of the Silverado pickup just last year.

Porsche says car No. 300,000, a Boxster Spyder--silver with a red interior--rolled off the Zuffenhausen assembly line in June and went to a customer in Germany.

But production numbers are not the key measuring stick for Porsche. In fact, enthusiasm for the two-seat, mid-engine cruisers is unlikely to falter anytime soon. Porsche sold a combined 3,499 copies of the Boxster and the Cayman in the United States in 2010.

Porsche first unveiled a mid-engine roadster concept at the 1993 Detroit auto show. The public response led to series production of the Boxster in summer 1996. The Cayman, a coupe variant of the Boxster, debuted in Frankfurt in 2005.

There now are four variants in the coupe range: the Cayman, the Cayman S, the Cayman S Black Edition and the Cayman R. These are complemented by the open-top Boxster, Boxster S, Boxster S Black Edition and Boxster Spyder. Engine output for the two model lines varies from 255 hp to 330 hp.

By Michelle Koueiter