Why hundreds of Porsches were mysteriously immobilised across Russia

Porsche owners across Russia have reported that their fancy sports car has become undrivable or ‘bricked’. Drivers in Moscow, Krasnodar and other cities have reported engine shutdown, fuel delivery blockades. Rolf, Russia's largest dealership group, has reported the largest service request spike last week. It is reported by Moscow Times that the outage affects all potential Porsche vehicles and engines, and any vehicle could potentially lock itself. "It is possible that this was done on purpose," said a Rolf executive.

“Everything seemed perfect – wiring, battery, modules. Then I got to the VTS alarm unit. I disconnected it, reconnected it without the satellite plugs, and suddenly the car started. My friend had the same problem. Maybe there was interference. Maybe the radio waves got synchronised. We don’t know,” said a mechanic from Perm, whose Porsche would stall two seconds after starting.

Why did this happen?

The executives have failed to determine the exact cause of the outage. The affected vehicle uses a factory-installed satellite tracking system called PVTS or the Porsche Vehicle Tracking System. It was installed for all the models manufactured after 2013. When the connection is interrupted, the vehicle shuts itself down.

“Preliminary assessment indicates that the issue is not related to the design of the vehicles,” said Porsche’s official representative in Russia, Porsche Rusland LLC, as quoted by Russia’s specialist automotive outlet Auto Rambler as saying.

The German automobile manufacturer Volkswagen Group has stopped supplying to Russia since the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022. But its Moscow-based companies could not be sold. Russian executives claim that this is a deliberate attempt to block the engine to create disruption. Last year, British lawmakers warned that Beijing could remotely shut down Chinese-made electric vehicles as bilateral relations soured. The global centre of the German dealer has not yet commented.

For now, mechanics are left to diagnose what appears to be a perfectly healthy and functioning car. They are opting for DIY hacks, like some drivers had restored function by disabling or rebooting the VTS, while others disconnected the car batteries for up to 10 hours, as reported by the Russian News Outlet The Moscow Times