Hundreds of Porsches in Russia suddenly stopped working, and the fallout reveals something far bigger than a simple glitch – modern cars can now be switched off remotely

Every now and then, the car world delivers a story that feels less like automotive news and more like the opening act of an apocalyptic techno-thriller. The latest example arrived courtesy of Porsche owners across Russia, who discovered one morning that their pride and joy had transformed into a glossy, German-made paperweight. No warning, no recall, not even the courtesy of a “Sorry, mate, I can’t come out today.” Just… click, whirr, nothing. A perfectly fine engine that refused to start because the car couldn’t “phone home”. We used to worry about flat batteries or water in the distributor. Now we worry about satellite outage. Progress, they call it.