Porsche Owners in Russia last week found their vehicles “bricked up” and unable to start or drive after they suddenly stopped, leaving hundreds of the German cars stranded – and conspiracy theories bubbling.
Accordingly Car ScoopsOn December 1, 2025, Porsche owners across Russia woke up to find their vehicles mysteriously inoperable. In many cases the engine stalled seconds after starting, in others it failed to start at all.
Saw the strange event The Moscow Times suggest: “It is possible that this was done intentionally”, although the publication noted that there was no evidence to support the speculation.
In 2024, the US opened an investigation into Chinese-made cars, saying they posed a perceived safety risk and could be “remotely controlled or disabled.”
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The Daily Mail said the Russian automobile magazine Car Rambler confirmed that the official Russian importer Porsche Rusland LLC had acknowledged the existence of the problem.
Nevertheless, neither Porsche’s offices in Russia nor its global headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany, have made an official comment or issued a solution to the issue affecting 2013 models.
This has resulted in owners having to attempt their own remedies. Some reportedly had short-term success after removing their vehicle’s battery for up to 10 hours, while others attempted to disable the factory alarm systems.
The Daily Mail spoke to a Porsche dealer in Russia who said all model and engine types were affected.
It quoted a Russian Porsche driver named Alexander who became aware of the problem while picking up a takeaway in St. Petersburg.
“I picked up my order, got back in and that was it – the car wouldn’t start,” he said.
“For two days I tried to understand what happened. It’s a warning sign about which brands you can trust.”
The problem is reportedly related to the automaker’s Vehicle Tracking System (VTS), which automatically shuts down a vehicle if it loses its satellite signal, sending the vehicle offline and disabling its fuel systems.
Introduced in its fourth generation in 2013, VTS is used across the Porsche range, including the 718 Cayman/Boxster and 911 sports cars, as well as the Macan and Cayenne SUVs, as well as the Taycan and Panamera electric vehicles.
However, only a few of the stranded Porsches find their way back onto Russian roads Car Scoops Service centers and workshops were reportedly flooded with frustrated owners looking for a solution.
There is still no way to properly solve the problem as many owners have allowed their vehicles to restart only to notice the problem again.
After the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the automaker stopped selling new vehicles across Russia.
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