Porsche
in the UK has told owners of the newly launched 911 GT3 to stop driving
their cars and bring them back to the dealership for a check-up as the
parent company continues to investigate two cases in Europe where engine
fires gutted the £100,000 car.
The VW-owned company upgraded its
advice
from Wednesday this week when Porsche in the UK confirmed that the
German HQ had halted all new deliveries of the hardcore sportscar while
engineers searched for the cause of the fires.
In the UK just over 100 GT3s are affected out of a global total of 785 cars
sold since deliveries started late last year. Deliveries of a further 1,000
cars have been halted, according to Porsche.
“Safety is the top priority and owners have been advised not to use their
car,” a spokesman for Porsche in the UK told
The
Telegraph. Porsche will offer to transport the car back to the
dealership for an inspection of the engine, however the spokesman denied it
was a recall. “It’s not a recall in the strict sense of the word. We’re
offering customers the opportunity to bring the car back.” He said that
Porsche’s investigations in Germany into the cause of the two fires had not
yet been concluded.
The widely acclaimed GT3 is the latest in a long line of similarly badged 911s
admired by Porsche fans for their light weight and race-car driving
experience.
The new car, which costs £100,540 in the UK, includes active rear wheel
steering for the first time to improve high-speed stability and low-speed
manoeuvrability. The car’s 3.6-litre six-cylinder engine makes 475bhp to
give a 0-62mph time of just 3.5 seconds. Top speed is 196mph.
Porsche isn’t the only maker to be cautious about fire incidents. In 2010
Ferrari
recalled all models of its then newly launched 458 supercar
after a spate of fires were traced back the glue used to secure the rear
wheel arch lining to the car’s chassis, which was found to be liable to
catch alight when the car was driven for a long time at high speed.
Last year Tesla submitted its Model S electric car for tests by the US
government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to look into a
series
of fires.
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