According to new Porsche buyers discussing the matter on the UK’s enthusiast forum PistonHeads, Porsche sales in that country were temporarily halted until a fix could be found to make their cars comply with new cell phone repeater legislation. Several of Porsche GB’s customers have alleged that their dealer postponed the pickup of their new cars and that the problem impacted every model line. Some customers communicating on the forum were upset they had not received enough communication from their dealer, and were not told how long the sales suspension would be in effect.
According to users on the forum, some had allegedly been told by their dealers that a new law in place to regulate cell phone repeaters in the UK was the cause of the no-sale action. They further claim the dealers were given no choice but to hold the sale/delivery of any car after the law took effect. One such customer claims to have received the below correspondence from their official Porsche Centre:
The reason for the email is to give you advance warning of a stop sale campaign which effects [sic] delivery of your new Porsche…which includes all makes and models in the Porsche range. It is in reference to the mobile booster in the centre console and only effects [sic] cars in the UK. Porsche are [sic] working on a fix in the short term and hopefully it won’t impact the delivery date by too much.
A stop sale campaign means we are unable to register and deliver the car to you. I trust you understand that this is out of our control …. please rest assured Porsche Cars GB Ltd are [sic] working hard to resolve this as quickly as possible. ….We are currently being advised of a delay of around 2 weeks, but hoping it will be much quicker.
A Fix Has Already Been Found
Later in the thread, customers have indicated that their car pickup has been pushed back a few days, but will continue on as normal, as Porsche has found a fix. Allegedly, the fix in this case is to software based with the potential for hardware replacement, done on a recall basis, in the future.
We have reached out to Porsche GB for comment, but have not yet received a reply. As soon as we have more information on this story, we will update this page.