One of a kind
We head to Kochi to get a taste of what is possible with the Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur customising programme
PORSCHE HAS ALWAYS BEEN KNOWN for some bonkers cars and more so for the kind of crazy customisation options and one-offs that the Stuttgartbased manufacturer offers its customers right from the factory floor. This is in fact the founding principle of the company. To offer its customer a car as unique as the person behind the wheel. As a company, Porsche has been entertaining whacky requests from its customers right from the start and that programme has been called many things over the years until finally being cemented as the ‘Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur’. To remind us just what this programme is capable of, Porsche India called us out to its Kochi centre to give us a workshop on the Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur. The Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur is a platform that a Porsche buyer can use to spec his/her car to look and feel exactly the way they want right from the factory floor. Porsche will allow you to go crazy, with the customisation options being almost endless. Under the ‘Paint to Sample’ scheme, you can choose from a multitude (approximately 150) pre-approved colours for your cars, and if that doesn’t do it for you, you can opt for the Paint to Sample Plus scheme (currently available only for the 911, the 718 and the Taycan) in which you can ask Porsche exactly what colour you want and they will run a bunch of tests to see if that is feasible and get it done for you. The customisation doesn’t end there. You can pretty much spec each visual component of the car right from the wheels, the floor mats, to the clocks, the gear knob, the seats, get different designs on the armrests, and headrests, customise the illuminated door entry guards and logos, add a bunch of carbonfibre, get better lights, basically you name it and Porsche will do it. There’s also the Tequipment department which allows you to spec your sound system, entertainment units and so on. A lot of these mods can be done even after taking delivery of the car. The best part is, apart from the Paint to Sample Plus which is only available for the 911, 718 and the
Taycan, this Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur is available for all cars in the Porsche lineup. Let me throw a number at you to show you just how involved this process is. The key fob and cover can be customised in over 2,00,000 ways. Yes, you read that right!
To show us what the after product looks like, the Porsche Centre in Kochi had two one-off units of the Cayenne GTS and the Panamera Turbo S for us to see. The Cayenne GTS was finished in a gorgeous Carmine Red and was fit with 21-inch RS Spyder Design wheels and also got the GTS interior package with contrast stitching and a whole bunch of Alcantara in all the right places. Apart from that it also included the Sport Chrono Package with the Porsche Design Subsecond Clock, a custom gear selector, Porsche Rear Seat Entertainment with a Bose surround sound system, tinted LED matrix headlights including Porsche Dynamic Light System Plus and the Carbon Design Package. The Panamera Turbo S wore a ‘GT Silver metallic’ shade and was fitted with 21-inch Panamera Exclusive Design wheels with a bunch of carbonfibre accoutrements such as the side skirts, and front and rear aprons. It was also fitted with the sports exhaust system to allow the symphony from the turbo V8 to sound that much better. Other exterior changes included the Porsche Dynamic Light System Plus and Exclusive Design taillights. The interior was graced with Abachi Anthracite wood finish trims and included the Sport Chrono Package with the Porsche Design Subsecond clock and an Exclusive Design gear selector.
All the parts that you get from this customisation platform receive the same warranty as the rest of the car so you don’t have to worry about that either. The Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur programme is definitely one that makes the experience of buying a Porsche that much more special. It ensures that your identity as an individual comes through in the machine you hold very close to your heart. Porsche was also very proud in stating that no two cars are the same and that level of uniqueness definitely makes the car that much more special. Who doesn’t want that exclusivity when investing large sums of money in a car? ⌧
A LOT OF THESE MODS CAN BE DONE AFTER TAKING DELIVERY