How Custom Colors Are Created at the Request of Customers

How about a new sports car in the same color as your handbag, a special piece of furniture, or a model car from your childhood? Or would you prefer one of the cult colors from the 1990s? If you’re configuring a new Porsche model, the sky’s the limit when it comes to your choice of color. Customers can choose from many predefined colors – or, for the 718, 911, and Taycan models, create their very own color of paint using an object as a sample. A color with its very own name.

The demand for Porsche vehicles with custom paint jobs has been surging for years, which is why the company began expanding the already extensive range of series and special colors long ago. The new model year offers more than 190 colors to choose from across all the different model ranges. A key focus is on the availability of the typical Porsche colors that are familiar from the past and configurable via the so-called Paint to Sample program. In addition, for models produced at the Porsche plant in Zuffenhausen, customers have the option to create their very own color – Paint to Sample Plus – when they place an order for a new car. When it comes to this Sonderwunsch option, the sky’s the limit. A technical assessment determines whether the vision can become a reality. Customers who already own a Sonderwunsch vehicle and plan to turn it into a factory one-off or are interested in a factory renovation can request a Paint to Sample Plus color even if the model was not produced in Zuffenhausen.

Color development: a high degree of manual work

Painting individual vehicles in special colors in accordance with Porsche’s usual high-quality standards is a complicated process requiring a high degree of manual work and experienced employees. “Every shade of color must be deemed suitable for many different surfaces and materials, ultimately requiring a perfect color matching,” explains Boris Apenbrink, Director of Limited Series and Options at Exclusive Manufaktur. “We’ve therefore developed a unique process of workshop manufacturing and industrialization. In addition to the large selection of colors, customers also benefit from the extraordinary quality of the paint.”

The main factory in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen specializes in custom paint jobs and is home not only to the largest selection of Porsche paint samples and prototype vehicles with a Paint to Sample paint job, but also a color mixing bank, where painting experts mix the desired colors for the 911 and Taycan models from several dozen components with precision down to the milligram. Every batch is divided into two paint cans – one for the body and one for add-on parts. Most of the vehicle surfaces painted are made from aluminum, plastic, or carbon- or glass-fiber composite materials. “This mix of materials, as well as the different application techniques and drying temperatures, require paints with slightly different compositions depending on the part,” explains Apenbrink. “That’s because the color has to be exactly the same everywhere when you’re done, no matter what material it’s painted on.” 

So-called batch comparison sheets are painted and serve as color reference samples for final vehicle inspection. The raw materials, pigments, and mixed paints used to produce the paints from the color mixing bank are thoroughly tested to meet the highest requirements for weathering and stone chipping, as well as other critical requirements for exterior paints. And that’s how the general technical process works. But the more unique the color is, the more complicated implementation can be.

Paint to Sample: cult colors on demand

The Paint to Sample category includes predefined colors already technically approved by Porsche painting experts such as Maritime Blue, Ruby Star, and Mint Green. These colors of paint from the 1990s enjoy cult status in the Porsche community.

The extensive range varies depending on the model and production site. There are more than 130 additional paint colors to choose from for the 718, 911, and Taycan models. For the Panamera, Macan, and Cayenne, there are more than 50 color options. Colors in the Paint to Sample range can be ordered in the new-car configurator. The time to delivery is around three months longer than for standard colors.

Paint to Sample Plus: personalized outfit

When it comes to the Sonderwunsch program, customers can turn their very own ideas of their new paint color into a reality. Porsche goes one step further in implementation to fulfill the exclusive requirements. How it works: The customer provides the Porsche Center with a sample of their desired color – anything is possible, whether it’s a handbag or a nail polish. Once it receives the sample, Porsche conducts a feasibility test and initiates color development. This takes an average of around nine months, depending on the level of complexity.

Color experts begin working on the formula and develop the color on the basis of the paint components available. And then, in multiple rounds, the color is further developed until it matches the sample under different sources of light such as sunlight and artificial light. “Regardless of the sample that customers bring in, the expectation is clear. The final color has to match perfectly,” says Boris Apenbrink. 

It’s also essential to define the layer thickness, which enables a stable, reproducible, and error-free paint job. Before the customer’s car is actually painted, at least one test body is painted in the custom color. If the color obtained matches the sample provided, agreement with the customer will be finalized. After all that, a name is also chosen for the color. But if the desired color cannot be implemented in accordance with Porsche’s quality standards, the sports car manufacturer assumes the costs for the feasibility test.

With such a large selection of colors to choose from, there’s almost no limit to your creativity. Whether it’s a cult-status Paint to Sample color or a shade specially developed through the Paint to Sample Plus program, the resulting sports car will be as distinctive as your fingerprint – and as individual as your lifestyle.