Porsche adds 548 sports cars to centre-lock wheel recall with stop-driving warning

Porsche has widened a US safety recall to cover a further 548 vehicles from the 2024 model year, all fitted with centre-lock wheels that could fracture and let a wheel come loose. Affected owners are being told not to drive their cars until dealers have inspected and, where necessary, replaced the suspect components.

The expansion adds to an original recall issued in October 2024 covering 2,251 vehicles, which also carried a do-not-drive warning. The latest round carries the same instruction.

Which models are affected

The additional vehicles include the 911 GT3, 911 GT3 RS, 911 Turbo, 911 Turbo S, 911 S/T, 911 Carrera GTS, 718 Cayman GT4 RS and 718 Spyder RS. These are the models on which Porsche reserves centre-lock wheels, typically its fastest and grippiest cars.

The recall is being administered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, and vehicle identification numbers became searchable on the agency's website on October 20. Owners are urged to check their VIN promptly and, if their car is covered, to leave it parked until repairs are completed.

Why the recall grew

The expansion follows two further reports of fractured centre-lock components, one in May and one in August of this year. Porsche investigated with its parts supplier and found that the original process for identifying defective parts had missed some potentially affected components. A deeper investigation showed that additional vehicles could have received parts from the same out-of-specification material batch.

What owners should do

Porsche plans to contact owners by phone, email and the My Porsche app, advising them not to drive their vehicles. Authorised dealers will inspect the centre-lock wheel fastening systems and replace any improperly manufactured components at no charge.

The sources do not say how long inspections or replacements will take, nor whether the recall extends beyond the United States. Neither point has been announced.

Why a loose wheel matters more on these cars

A wheel detaching is dangerous on any vehicle, but on a high-performance Porsche built for track use and high cornering loads the consequences are more severe. The do-not-drive instruction is unusually blunt for a manufacturer, and it reflects the fact that the failure mode can appear without warning.

For owners, the practical effect is that some of Porsche's most expensive and specialised sports cars are grounded until parts are checked. The recall also shows how a supplier batch problem can escape an initial screening process, which is why the scope was widened rather than closed.

Chery will bring the Tiggo X7 to the UK as the first model in a new, more rugged X range, according to Autocar. The Chinese brand has not officially confirmed the model, but its UK managing director Farrell Hsu recently told the publication that the X line will be offered here.

The Tiggo X7 adopts a much boxier look than the Cherys currently sold in Britain, with styling reminiscent of established 4x4s such as the Land Rover Defender and Toyota Land Cruiser.

A different kind of Chery

The X range is intended to give buyers a "different feeling" from the existing Tiggo line-up, targeting lifestyle customers who want a car capable of light off-roading for leisure activities. The Tiggo X7 signals that shift visually: prominent plastic cladding wraps its bumpers and wheel arches, and it rides on tall all-terrain tyres.

That positioning matters because it moves Chery away from the value-focused family SUV space where the brand has competed so far. Rugged styling and all-terrain rubber are cheap signals of capability, but they also widen the pool of buyers to include people who want a vehicle for weekends away rather than the school run. Whether the hardware underneath matches the look is the question the styling deliberately leaves open.

Powertrain, price and timing still unconfirmed

Technical details of the Tiggo X7 remain under wraps, and Chery has not announced power, torque, battery size, electric range or charging figures. No price has been released for the UK, and there is no confirmed on-sale date.

What Hsu has indicated is a broader powertrain strategy. He highlighted strong sales of Chery's plug-in hybrids and said all models will eventually be PHEVs as standard, with buyers choosing battery size, and therefore electric range, in the way they might pick a phone's storage capacity. That suggests the Tiggo X7 will be offered as a plug-in hybrid, but the specific configuration for the UK car has not been detailed.

The X7 name is already taken in Britain

Chery has not confirmed whether the Tiggo X7 will keep that name in the UK as it does in China. The complication is that BMW already sells an X7 luxury SUV in Britain, alongside its X1, X2, X3, X4, X5 and X6 models. Sharing a nameplate with a well-established premium SUV would make showroom conversations harder, so a market-specific badge would be a sensible move, though nothing has been decided publicly.

Millbrook and the German benchmark

Hsu said Chery Group's new research and development base at Millbrook Proving Ground in Bedfordshire will play a key role in refining future models for the British market. He was candid about the benchmark the brand is chasing: "So many people like the German feeling; cars that drive like a German car. It really gives them a very good impression. This is something we need to learn. Maybe in the future we can educate other markets [and their manufacturers], but currently we need to learn from them".

A UK proving ground gives Chery somewhere to tune ride and handling on British roads rather than adapting a Chinese-market set-up. That is the kind of investment that tends to show up in how a car feels at speed and over broken surfaces, areas where newer Chinese brands have historically trailed established European rivals.

A new Tiggo 7 alongside

Chery also revealed a new generation of the Tiggo 7. It bears a strong external resemblance to the existing model but is said to be an all-new car underneath.