Porsche’s Paint to Sample Palette offers up to 120 additional colours.
Buyers can choose any colour they want with the Paint to Sample Plus option.
Prices range from $13,150 to $43,390 in the United States, from $15,000 to $49,510 in Canada.
Who wants a car that looks like everyone else’s at every street corner? Aside from criminals, no one does. That’s why automakers, and especially luxury brands, offer an ever-growing list of customisation options and accessories, including exterior paint colours. Porsche has been offering a custom colour palette for decades, which is currently called the Paint to Sample program.
The idea is simple: charge an extra sum for a paint colour that’s not part of the regular palette you would normally find in a dealer showroom. The regular selection includes no-charge solid or metallic paints, other metallic paints available for a small fee, and special-edition colors that cost a few thousand dollars. The Paint to Sample program offers a much wider selection, but its pricing guarantees a certain level of exclusivity.
In the United States, a Paint to Sample color costs an extra $11,430 on the Porsche Panamera, $12,830 to $20,960 on the Porsche 911, and $13,150 for the Porsche Cayenne, the Porsche Taycan and the Porsche Macan. In Canada, obtaining a Paint to Sample hue requires an extra investment of $15,000 for the Panamera, Cayenne, Taycan and Macan, as well as between $15,000 and $23,920 for the 911. The program is not available for the Porsche 718 Cayman and Boxster at the moment, as the company has enough special orders to fulfill for the foreseeable future.
When a customer orders a Porsche Paint to Sample colour, he or she must wait up to three additional months for the vehicle to be produced, as special paint colours require extra time and preparation at the factory—hence part of the extra cost. Here’s a breakdown of each model’s current selection of standard, metallic and special colours, along with the number of available Paint to Sample colours.
| Models | Regular No-Charge Colours | Regular Metallic Colours | Regular Special Colours | Paint to Sample Colours | Paint to Sample USA | Paint to Sample Canada | Paint to Sample Plus USA | Paint to Sample Plus Canada |
| 911 Carrera/4/S/4S/GTS/4 GTS | 4 | 5 | 6 | 118 | $13,150 | $15,000 | $30,020 | $34,250 |
| 911 Carrera T | 4 | 3 | 5 | 118 | $13,150 | $15,000 | – | – |
| 911 Carrera Targa 4/4S/4 GTS | 4 | 5 | 6 | 118 | $13,150 | $15,000 | $30,020 | $34,250 |
| 911 Edition 50 Years Porsche Design | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | – | – | – | – |
| 911 Turbo/Turbo S | 4 | 5 | 6 | 118 | $14,750 | $16,830 | $37,180 | $42,420 |
| 911 GT3/GT3 with Touring Package | 4 | 4 | 4 | 118 | $14,750 | $16,830 | $37,180 | $42,420 |
| 911 GT3 RS | 4 | 0 | 4 | 120 | $20,960 | $23,920 | $43,390 | $49,510 |
| 911 Sport Classic | 1 | 3 | 0 | 114 | $12,830 | – | $32,330 | – |
| 911 Dakar | 2 | 2 | 3 | 118 | $14,750 | $16,830 | $37,180 | $42,420 |
As we can see, the 911 is the model with the most available paint colours, with up to 120 Paint to Sample hues waiting to be chosen. The Taycan also has a great selection with 116 PTS colours. Meanwhile, the Panamera and Macan offer a choice of 59 PtS colours, while the all-new 2024 Cayenne gets a 52-colour PTS palette.
| Models | Regular No-Charge Colours | Regular Metallic Colours | Regular Special Colours | Paint to Sample Colours | Paint to Sample USA | Paint to Sample Canada | Paint to Sample Plus USA | Paint to Sample Plus Canada |
| Taycan/4S | 2 | 8 | 4 | 116 | $13,150 | $15,000 | $30,020 | $34,250 |
| Panamera | 2 | 10 | 3 | 59 | $11,430 | $15,000 | – | – |
| Macan | 2 | 7 | 2 | 59 | $13,150 | $15,000 | – | – |
| Macan T/Macan S | 2 | 7 | 2 | 59 | $13,150 | $15,000 | – | – |
| Macan GTS | 2 | 7 | 3 | 59 | $13,150 | $15,000 | – | – |
| Cayenne | 2 | 6 | 4 | 52 | $13,150 | $15,000 | – | – |
| Cayenne Turbo GT | 2 | 4 | 2 | 52 | $13,150 | $15,000 | – | – |
The Paint to Sample Plus program is more exclusive, and much costlier. Customers get to choose the colour they want, which the automaker will sample and send to its headquarters to evaluate the feasibility of the hue. Anything can be sampled, such as a favourite nail polish, a garment or a lawn mower. Whatever object whose colour buyers want their car to be painted with.
Once the desired colour is sampled, paint experts at Porsche create the formulation, making sure it corresponds to the hue under various lighting sources, and can successfully applied to all of the vehicle’s exterior body components. The paint is then applied to a test body, and if the colour can’t be reproduced with the brand’s usual quality standards, Porsche assumes the feasibility test costs. Buyers who choose the Paint to Sample Plus program must be patient, though, as the process takes several months. Price? $30,020 to $43,390 for U.S. customers, $34,250 to $49,510 for Canadian customers.
“When you buy a Porsche, it’s not just a car… it’s a dream fulfilled,” said Boris Apenbrink, director of Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur Vehicles. “People have very specific thoughts about what their dream should look like. We’re extending the boundaries of what is possible.”
Is that a lot of dough for paint? Sure it is. However, the exclusivity associated with choosing a rare hue may result in a vehicle that could be worth a lot more in the used market several years down the road. What happens in the event of an accident or a mild fender bender? Porsche dealer body shops will receive the exact color code and repaint the damaged vehicle’s body panels, as when it left the factory.
According to Porsche public relations director Patrick Saint-Pierre, 1.2% of the brand’s customers in Canada chose a Paint to Sample or Paint to Sample Plus colour for their 2023 model-year vehicle. Notably, the 2023 Porsche Macan T we tested earlier this year was sprayed in the Paint to Sample hue called Speed Yellow.
In a nutshell, if the standard or regular metallic paint colors seem uninteresting, we can definitely add a pop of colour to our Porsche, as the PTS palette includes eye-searing greens, deep blue and violet hues, a few bold oranges and reds along with more traditional, but still rare, greyscale or pastel paint colours. Which one would you choose?
