Suzhou City in our very own Jiangsu Province has recently witnessed the death of a man trapped inside his burning electric Porsche, bringing to light a recent history of fires breaking out in the German car maker’s four-wheel offerings in China.
Media reports of the accident emerged on Wednesday, 14 September, whereupon it was learned that a man had died after becoming trapped in a Porsche Taycan that burst into flames upon colliding with a guardrail.
The accident happened in the early morning of 5 September, near a shopping mall in Suzhou’s central Wuzhong District. According to eyewitnesses at the scene, the size of the fire was immense. One bystander rushed to the car in an attempt to save the occupant, but could not open the door.
It is presumed a fire brought on an by electrical failure in the vehicle meant the door would need to be opened manually from the inside. The dying driver was perhaps unable to do so or was unaware of the correct procedure.
Reporters contacted the Porsche after-sales centre in Wuzhong for comment, only to hear a member of staff say, “Sorry, our manager is not here”.
The Paper has also reported someone who claimed to know the victim as saying, “He was a friend of my customer. He was only in his 30s and has left behind a daughter 9 years old. Her and tens of millions in property”.
In China, the cheapest Porsche Taycan will set you back ¥890,000 and the top-end model a whopping ¥1.8 million.
Traffic authorities in Wuzhong said that as the results of the investigation into the fire and death of the unnamed man have not been released, they are not able to comment at this time.
Porsche and its electric vehicles also hit the headlines just last month. In the early morning of 12 August in Guangdong Province, the seat of an electric Panamera suddenly started to smoke and catch fire during normal driving.
It eventually led to the explosion of the vehicle; thankfully after all three occupants had made their escape. After investigation, it was found the fire had started under the driver’s seat.
Back in Suzhou, another Porsche spontaneously caught fire on 13 June. Reports did not specify neither the model of the car nor that it be electrically powered.
The car burst into flames on Tongjing Nan Lu in Suzhou and its occupants were able to make good their exit. The intensity of the fire meant that by the time firefighters arrived, the vehicle had been reduced to a charred shell.
That’s three fires in Porsches in China, including one fatality, two of them in electric vehicles, just in the last 4 months. While these accidents are sure to have the prestigious auto manufacturer worried, they also confirm an emerging trend in vehicle fires in China.
According to data released by the National Emergency Management Department, there were 640 fires in electric cars during the first quarter of 2022, a number up 32 percent year on year. For cars powered by internal combustion, that same growth rate was just 8.8 percent.
