Paint to Sample Plus service requires an average of nine months just to test and develop a color based on a customer’s supplied swatch
June 7, 2025 at 09:00
- Porsche has highlighted the differences between its two Paint-to-Sample services.
- PTS is based on an existing library of colors, but PTS Plus is for totally new hues.
- Body and trim use different paints because they’re made from different materials.
You’ve probably heard of Porsche’s Paint to Sample program that allows customers to spec their car in colors not listed among the stock color swatches. But did you know it’s not just one program, but rather two, or that it could take the best part of a year to get a 911 built in a color that’s never been used before?
Porsche recently highlighted the differences between the Paint to Sample service that unlocks hundreds of additional colors already available and the far more involved Paint to Sample Plus that allows customers to request match their new car to any item of their choosing, like a nail varnish or handbag.
Related: It Takes Porsche Three To Four Years To Approve New Exterior Colors For Its Cars
Anyone buying a new Porsche, or just browsing for one, can head over to the company’s configurator and see how a 911, Macan, Cayenne, Taycan or Panamera would look in one of the 191 existing PTS colors. Many of these are historic shades such as Bahama Yellow or Irish Green; others are colors Porsche has developed for PTS+ clients and have since been added to the regular PTS library.
Naturally, there’s a big price difference between the two. Adding a regular metallic color to a 911 will cost you between $830 and $2,980, and a PTS coat is a big step up from that, at $14,190. But the full PTS+ treatment come in at $31,070, almost a quarter of the price of an entry-level 911, so it’s something usually only ordered on higher-spec cars.
Want PTS+? Better not be in a hurry
But the real eye-opener is how long it takes Porsche to turn your granny’s broach, football shirt, Balinese beer mat or whatever it is you want replicating into a liquid suitable to dress a 911 or Taycan. And it is only those two because Porsche only offers Paint to Sample Plus on cars built at its Zuffenhausen HQ.
While Paint to Sample orders add around three months to the time taken between Porsche taking your deposit and you getting the car, Paint to Sample Plus customers need at least three times as much patience. Once Porsche receives the color sample form the customer it embarks on an involved feasibility study to first see if it’s possible to match the shade in both sunlight and artificial light, and then develop it ready for painting.
Before even a drop touches the customer’s car an entire test bodyshell is painted in the new color. If the trial works, the paint gets a name, which might be the customer’s own name, and is then loaded into a gun to coat the real car. The development process takes an average of nine months, meaning some customers could be waiting almost a full year to receive their cars.
You can check out how your favorite new Porsche would look in one of the PTS hues on the regular configurator, and read some interesting history snippets about each one. Or you can view the colors on the special Paint to Sample microsite, which lets you easily see how different models would look in the same paint.
