Hacking fears as Porsches being 'bricked' in Russia

Porsche owners in Russia found their vehicles ‘bricked’ last week, unable to be started or driven after they suddenly stopped, leaving hundreds of the German cars stranded – and conspiracy theories to fester.

According to CarScoops, Porsche owners across Russia awoke on December 1, 2025, to find their vehicles mysteriously inoperable, many having their engines stop seconds after firing up, with others unable to start at all.

The odd occurrence saw The Moscow Times suggest “It’s possible this was done deliberately”, although the publication noted there was no evidence to support the speculation.

In 2024, the US launched a probe into Chinese-made cars on the grounds they posed a perceived security risk and could be “piloted or disabled remotely”.

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The Daily Mail said Russian motoring publication Auto Rambler confirmed official Russian importer Porsche Rusland LLC had acknowledged the existence of the problem.

Yet neither Porsche’s operations in Russia nor the global head office in Stuttgart, Germany, has made any official comment or issued a solution to the issue, which has affected models dating back to 2013.

This has left owners to attempt their own remedies, with some reportedly enjoying brief success after removing their vehicle’s battery for up to 10 hours, while others tried disabling factory alarm systems.

The Daily Mail spoke with a Porsche dealer in Russia who said all model and engine types were affected.

It quoted a Russian Porsche driver, Alexander, who was caught out by the issue while picking up a takeaway meal in St Petersburg.

“I picked up my order, got back in, and that was it – the car wouldn’t start,” he said. “Two days I spent trying to understand what happened. It’s a warning sign about which brands can be trusted.”

The issue is reportedly linked to the automaker’s Vehicle Tracking System (VTS), which automatically shuts a vehicle down if it loses its satellite signal, sending the vehicle offline and disabling its fuel systems.

Now in its fourth-generation, VTS was introduced in 2013 and is used across the Porsche range, including its 718 Cayman/Boxster and 911 sports cars, and Macan and Cayenne SUVs, as well as its Taycan electric vehicle and Panamera.

Few of the stranded Porsches are finding their way back onto Russian roads, though, with CarScoops reporting that service centres and workshops have been flooded with frustrated owners looking for a fix.

There is still no way to properly solve the issue, with many owners having had their vehicles restarted only to experience the problem again.

The automaker stopped sales of new vehicles across Russia following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

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