the real money is in customizing them

Supercar and luxury car brands they know their clients very well and they know that an expensive car is no longer enough: they want something exclusive that no one else can have. For this reason, extreme customization has become a very profitable business within the luxury segment, to the point that custom programs compete in importance with the mass production of the models themselves.

​Customers are no longer satisfied with choosing a certain color or finish of the upholstery. You want unique craftsmanship that turns each car into a unique piece that reflects the personality of its owner.

In this context, Porsche makes its customers’ wishes come true with Sonderwunsch, which could literally be translated as “special wishes.” Its name already suggests what that department of the Porsche factory in Zuffenhausen, north of Stuttgart, is dedicated to.

Sit down with Porsche to design your car

A little over two years ago, practically only Bentley and Rolls-Royce offered their customers the possibility of customize down to the last detail the design of their cars. However, currently the brands themselves recognize that the turnover from their artisanal customization workshops is a lucrative business that can double the price of their supercars.

According to the official dataFerrari made a profit of 1,525 million euros in 2024. Some 1,300 million euros of those profits were billed from units that had gone through the Ferrari Atelier.

Now, and given its recent drop in salesit is Porsche that gives an additional push to its artisanal customization department with more options for its customers. Have you always wanted to have a Porsche? We do it for you just as you dreamed of. That’s what Sonderwunsch offers, Porsche’s program for customers who want to go beyond the configurator options and create something truly personal.

Porsche customization goes in layers

Porsche has designed a layering system based on the customization requirements of its customers. The first level, the most basic, begins with the brand configurator. Here you can choose a certain range of colors, finishes and equipment defined by the brand.

The second level of customization goes through the program Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur for more advanced (and expensive) customization options such as designing special colors that are not available in the configurator range or unique finishes.

The last layer is Sonderwunsch, which fulfills requests that no one else can fulfill. The brand explains that Exclusive Manufaktur already allows deep customizations, such as exclusive metallic paints or upholstery with custom prints, but Sonderwunsch takes everything to another level with one-off projects or limited series.

With these extreme customization options, the German brand wants its customers to create the cars they have always dreamed of in close collaboration with its design and manufacturing experts. Alexander Fabig, Vice President of Individualization and Classics at Porsche, explains that “Since the beginning, we have constantly increased our personalization offering and made it more attractive to our customers.”

Sonderwunsch allows its wealthiest clients to do things the brand configurator will never offer: color schemes created from scratchspecific wheel designs, body or interior modifications with hand-picked materials for a single car.

The most ambitious projects, the so-called “one-off factory”, are conceived as unique pieces with its own approval, a process that can involve hundreds of employees for more than two years. Fabig admits that “most of our Sonderwunsch customers are absolute Porsche experts” and know the products “in and out.”

The Sonderwunsch trip begins with the owner’s visit to the Porsche factory museum in Zuffenhausen, where he will sit down with a team of brand specialists who will listen to his initial idea and launch a technical, legal and economic feasibility study of the project.

As and how they stand out in DiaryMotoronly the previous study requires an advance payment of 150,000 euros to demonstrate that the client is serious. Dreams come true, but they are not free.

​Some of the most representative examples that Porsche shows is that of Luca Trazzi, who created a 911 Speedster 993 in “Otto Yellow” color, inspired by his dog Otto, who sports a unique yellow and black checkered interior made specifically for him. A one-off of these characteristics can cost millions and take more than two years, but the result is an approved and unique car.

A KM0 Porsche is another story

Porsche is not limited to the extreme customization of new cars or the creation of debut works in its artisan workshops. The brand has developed, within the Sonderwunsch umbrella, a kind of time machine with which cars that left the factory decades ago can be used again.

As and how do they count in Mortor1the “Zero Miles” program allows cars to be restored from the factory to the point that, legally, their odometer can read zero kilometers again so that customers can return to release a historic supercar.

This program only applies to three very special models for the German brand: Carrera GT, 959 and 918 Spyder.

The process is exhaustive since the car is revised to the millimeter, all the parts that need it are restored or the necessary components are manufactured again, without forgetting the customization of details such as color, upholstery or even certain dynamic aspects to improve your behavior.

When this process is finished, Porsche offers the customer the same warranty with which the car originally left the factory because, technically, the car is new again…even if it stopped being produced a couple of decades ago.

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Image | porsche