The Porsche Cayman is a mid-engined, rear wheel drive 2-seat sports car produced by Porsche AG of Germany. First launched in the 2006 model year, the Cayman is a coupé derived from Porsche's second generation Boxster convertible. Like the Boxster, most Caymans were assembled in Finland for Porsche by Valmet Automotive (the rest are assembled in Zuffenhausen, Stuttgart, Germany). Porsche's Deputy Chairman, Holger P. Haerter stated that their contract with Valmet Automotive will end in 2012, and the Cayman's production will be outsourced to Magna Steyr Fahrzeugtechnik of Graz, Austria. (Panorama, 2008). More recently, as Volkswagen assumed ultimate control of Porsche AG, that agreement fell through, and the production of both Caymans and Boxsters after 2012 will be in the former Karmann plant in Osnabruck, now owned by Volkswagen and used for production of the new 2012 Golf Cabriolet.After two years of development, the first model of the coupé to be released was the Cayman S (type 987120). Photographs and technical details were released in May 2005, but the public unveiling did not take place until the September Frankfurt Motor Show. The S suffix (for Sport or Special) indicated that this was a higher performance version of a then unreleased normal model. That model, the Cayman (987110), went on sale in July 2006. A motorsport-tuned model, the Cayman RS, is rumored to have been tested at the Nürburgring that same year.
The Cayman coupé (project 987c) and the second generation Boxster convertible (project 987) shared the same mid-engined platform and many components, including the front fenders and trunk lid, side doors, headlights, taillights and forward portion of the interior. The design of the Cayman's body incorporates styling cues from two classic Porsches; the 550 Coupé and the 904 Coupé. Unlike the Boxster, the Cayman has a large hatchback for access to luggage areas on top of and in the back of the engine cover. The suspension design is fundamentally the same as that of the Boxster, but features revised settings appropriate to the increase in chassis stiffness resulting from the Cayman's fixed roof.
