(Yicai Global) May 19 -- Luxury car brand Porsche has promised to begin fixing certain car owners' vehicles in China in the third quarter after downgrading their orders without notice due to the global chip shortage.

Porsche China will start changing electric steering columns in some vehicles from the third quarter, the company said in a statement on its website yesterday. Those car owners who fail to get their vehicles upgraded will be compensated a fixed amount for their losses, it added.

All the affected clients will have a one-year extended warranty for the entire vehicle, the Stuttgart-headquartered company added.

It is not new for Porsche to respond to Chinese car owners' complaints about electric steering column downgrades, but it is the first time for it to offer solutions.

Chinese media outlets have recently reported that Porsche has replaced its standard electric steering columns with manual steering columns without communicating with the buyers. It had allegedly offered clients CNY2,300 (USD340) vouchers as compensation for the missing part that assists the driver in steering.

Porsche is one of the biggest luxury brands in China. Last year, more than 95,670 cars were delivered to buyers in the Asian country, according to the firm. For seven years, China has been Porsche’s largest single market in the world.

Buyers have not been quiet about the incomplete, yet expensive orders. Chinese product quality complaint platform Black Cat has some 144 complaints related to Porsche's steering columns.

Chen Wei, who had ordered a Porsche Panamera worth nearly CNY1.2 million (USD170,200) in April 2021, said to Yicai Global that when she was picking up the car in September the salesperson said to her that the car is lacking an electric steering column even though Porsche had not told her about any downgrades. "I even lacked a car key," she said as the firm offered only one key instead of the customary two.

Chen belongs to a WeChat group about Porsche owners' rights protection with 500 members. She showed some chat records in the group. Some car owners were criticizing the manufacturer for not providing details about the repair schedule.

"Now the company has said that it will do that [replacements] in batches from the third quarter, but when exactly and in which batch will we be able to get the problem solved?" Chen wondered.

The problem affects owners of different models. The WeChat group members have reported similar problems in Porsche Cayenne and Taycan.

Liu Qiang, a Porsche Cayenne owner in Shanghai, said to Yicai Global that last October the carmaker had said that the electric steering wheel was temporarily changed to a manual one in order to deliver the car as soon as possible. The chip was promised to be re-installed for free after the supply returns to normal, he added. However, after waiting for half a year, a salesperson said to Liu in April that the part cannot yet be replaced.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi