Porsche has apologised after being accused of airbrushing out a Jesus statue from the background of one of its car adverts. 

An advert celebrating the 60th anniversary of its classic 911 model was filmed in Lisbon, Portugal, where the Christ the King statue is a local landmark. 

In the advert, a red 911 speeds along the banks of the River Tagus and the statue's plinth can be clearly seen in the background, but the statue itself is missing. 

The omission prompted users of X - formerly known as Twitter - to question why the statue was gone from the advert. 

"Hey, @Porsche, why did you erase the statue of Jesus Christ from your video filmed in Lisbon?" said X user Alex B, alongside a screengrab of the video next to a picture of the statue.

X users accused the luxury car brand of being woke and anti-Christian. 

"Looks like Porsche doesn't want Christians buying their cars," said one.

Another said: "Well, guess if Porsche can edit Jesus out of their video 'celebrating' 60-years — we can all edit them out of our memories. Apparently, Porsche doesn't care about Christians."

Another user tweeted: "The lack of self-awareness, a company born in Europe with its Judeo-Christian roots and values, pretending to hold dear its origins while erasing one of its most important symbols. Even I as an atheist find this to be disconcerting."

Porsche has since apologised "for any offence caused" in a comment on its YouTube page, although it has not given any explanation as to why the statue was edited out of the video.

"A message to our community: in a previously-uploaded version of the 911 S/T launch film, a landmark was removed. This was a mistake, and we apologize for any offense caused. Your comments on this video were appreciated," it said.