News: Theft of Bond cars baffles German police

GERMAN POLICE are investigating whether the thieves who took nine Range Rovers lined up to be used in the new 007 film did it by hacking the vehicles’ keyless entry systems.

The cars, which included five Range Rover Sports and an Evoque and were collectively worth a reported £630,000, were stolen from a Land Rover testing centre in Neuss, near Düsseldorf, where they were being prepared to be used in the filming of Spectre, the latest James Bond movie, starring Daniel Craig. Police say the cars were taken one at a time between October 20 and 27 from a car park that houses up to 600 vehicles that are loaned to VIPs or used for filming.

They say the thieves left no clues to how they had gained entry to the cars. One line of inquiry is whether the crooks exploited a perceived weakness in the vehicles’ security systems. As Driving has reported in the past, many cars that feature keyless entry systems are vulnerable to thieves, who can hack into the on-board computer and then reprogram a blank key fob, tricking the car into thinking it is the genuine one. All Range Rover Sports come with keyless entry as standard.

Heinz Willi Arnold, a police spokesman, said: “We are keeping all eventualities in mind but not drawing any conclusions until we have evidence. We are not ruling out the possibility that the cars were stolen using new hi-tech methods.”

Spectre is due to be released on November 6, 2015.

Read more on keyless entry theft here 

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