Porsche Buyers Line Up for ‛Personal Design’ Customization Program

LOS ANGELES – Above the Porsche store on swanky Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills is a room where dreams can come true.

It is the Porsche Design Studio, where new owners can choose from hundreds of special fabrics, leather and other samples to transform their vehicles into unique statements of personal style.

“These are people who want to take the next step in their buying experience,” says Sascha Glaeser, manager-personal design for Porsche Cars North America.

In the volume luxury-brand segment, Porsche stands out for how much buyers can customize their cars. That gives the brand a mystique that goes beyond pure performance, and it keeps customers coming back for more.

“Typically this level of customization doesn’t get done at the Mercedes or BMW or Audi level,” says Ed Kim, vice president-industry analysis at automotive research firm AutoPacific. “The fact that they offer the same level of customization as ultra-premium (automakers) does elevate the brand.”

People aspire to own a Porsche, he says, and the ability to personalize cars to such a high level makes that ownership a badge of honor.

“This is a buyer who didn’t have to buy a Porsche,” Kim says.

Porsche sales in the U.S., its largest market, are skyrocketing. The automaker delivered 42,323 units in 2013, up 20.8% from the previous year, according to WardsAuto data. Global volume rose 14.9% in 2013 to a record 162,145 units, Porsche says. Sales are expected to grow further this year, as the new Macan small CUV is added to the line.

For dealers, those sales come with hefty margins earned on the customization. Any Porsche model can be customized, from the $52,000 Boxster to the $181,000 911 Turbo S.

Buyers typically spend at least $15,000 on customizing, says Jay Huffschmidt, marketing and customer relationship manager at Beverly Hills Porsche.

Most customization is done through an online configurator. The process starts with a salesman using an iPad to show the buyer the menu, which includes everything from colors, fabrics and wheel caps to a Burmester sound system.

“There are many options you can pick so long as you are patient,” says Huffschmidt.

Go See Sascha

About 30% of his buyers do fairly extensive customization right in the showroom, he says.

Then there are the 5% who “go see Sascha.” They are people who want a truly unique car, and will spend up to $50,000 to add unique touches, such as a key painted the same color as the car, leather-wrapped air vents or a special slogan or signature designed into the door sill.

“People who have worked hard to get this thing, that is the touch they want,” Huffschmidt says.

Part of the Porsche Exclusive program, the design studio visit option includes meeting Sascha Glaeser.

Porsche has representatives of the program in only two U.S. cities: Beverly Hills and New York, but there is no studio in New York. Instead, Melissa Witek, a personal design specialist, has cases filled with samples she takes to meet buyers in dealerships or at their homes.

The design studio has the capacity to do only about 300 vehicles a year and it is fully booked, Glaeser says. “We see a lot of clients who are repeat customers,” he notes.

Rob Maigret is one of those repeat customers. His ’12-model 911 is the third Porsche he has owned. Maigret visited Glaeser’s studio to configure his agate-gray car, then took delivery at the Porsche plant in Zuffenhausen, Germany.

That kind of involvement in the car’s creation has given Maigret an intimate bond with his Porsche. “This car kind of knows me,” he says.

The ultimate level of customization Porsche offers is paint-to-sample. Paint-to-sample cars can be any color the customer desires. One buyer had a pearl-gray ’55 Porsche 356 Continental. He wanted his new Porsche in that color as well.

“We are painting his 911 GT3 in Germany,” Glaeser says.

It takes up to 3-1/2 months for the 5-person customization team in Leipzig to complete a car. If the vehicle is paint-to-sample, delivery can take up to 18 months because Porsche won’t take such orders after Christmas for the current model year.

Porsche won’t fulfill all customization requests. One buyer wanted red Alcantara headliner material on the roof of his 911Turbo S.

“Porsche says it won’t do it,” says Don Faerber, general manager of Porsche of San Antonio.

If the studio could handle more work, it appears there is room for growth in Porsche’s exclusive customization program. Buyers in Texas don’t commonly know they can custom build a car “in a way that nobody else has,” says Faerber, who moved to San Antonio a few months ago after managing a Porsche store in Sacramento, CA.

Word of mouth is the main marketing thrust for the Porsche Exclusive program, so Faerber is doing all he can to get the word out. The message: “There are enough choices that you literally create a one-of-a-kind vehicle.”