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Guards Red, Racing Yellow, Carrara White Metallic – these are familiar names for colors from the Porsche Car Configurator. Now a radiant, rich shade of green expands the color palette. As part of the color of your choice plus offer, Michael Essmann, a long-time Porsche enthusiast and managing director of the family business Elektro Essmann, had his own individual color created. The exterior color essmann green with the color code 24C can also be ordered from March 2023 as part of the model year R color of choice for customers of the 911, 718 or Taycan model series via the car configurator.
namesake of a colour
As early as 1992, Michael Essmann had a 911 Carrera RS 3.6 (964) painted in the company colors of the master workshop for electrical installations and photovoltaic systems - the first Porsche model in Essmann green. Others followed, most recently a 911 GT3 RS 4.0 (997) and currently a 911 GT3 Touring (992). The sons Mike and Stefan Essmann are successful in the Porsche Sports Cup, of course with racing vehicles that also have Essmann green accents on the body.
"My very first Porsche was a 1978 SC in 911, with which I also completed the sports driving school," remembers Michael Essmann. “It was painted in opal metallic. It was only later that I came up with the idea of using the color of our family business for my private cars. But it's always a great feeling to pick up a new Porsche in this very special color. And to feel like the originator and namesake of this color.”
Highest quality and perfect color matching
While the individual color of the 964 was still mixed 30 years ago in the after-sales painting process that was common at the time, the current Essmann-Porsche benefits from the fact that Porsche has professionalized the range of special exterior colors for 2021 and significantly expanded capacities. A new paint mixing bench was put into operation at the main plant in Zuffenhausen. There, the paint experts mix the desired colors from several dozen components, down to the milligram. Including binders and additives, the recipe for Essmanngrün contains over 100 ingredients.
Each batch is divided into two paint pots for the body and add-on parts. The parts of the vehicle to be painted consist mainly of aluminium, plastics and carbon/glass fiber composites. This mix of materials as well as the different application methods and drying temperatures require paints with slightly different compositions depending on the component. During the final inspection of the vehicle, a specially painted test body and so-called batch comparison panels serve as a color reference.
The comprehensively new processes, designed for high quality and a sensible combination of craftsmanship and industrialization, required the renewed development, testing and approval of all colors, some of which had already been successfully painted in the past in the old paint shop. This is the reason for the necessary development of a paint recipe for Essmanngrün on the Type 992, as this was last successfully painted in the old paint shop for the Type 997.
“Extraordinary paint finishes are part of the history of our brand. They are an important differentiator,” says Alexander Fabig, Head of Customization and Classic. “The intelligent combination of manufacturing process and industrialization is unique. In this way, our customers can enjoy a very large range of colors and numerous individual paint finishes that meet the highest demands. Every shade has to be assessed as being suitable for many different surfaces and materials – perfect color matching is required.”
170 additional shades across all model ranges
Porsche has expanded the range of colors and restructured them at the same time: "Color of your choice" used to mean "Individual color". This category includes predefined colors that have already been technically approved by the Porsche paint experts.
For particularly individual color requests, the Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur goes one step further: With “Color of your choice Plus”, the paintwork can be chosen almost freely based on a sample submitted by the customer. The Essmann green color of Michael Essmann's 911 GT3 Touring was initially created as a "color of your choice plus". After the technical approval, the Porsche paint experts transferred the color to the "color of your choice" program. Essmanngrün can now be selected there by anyone interested via the Porsche Car Configurator. The Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur itself started it off – they painted a brand new 911 GT3 RS (992) in this color for exhibition purposes.
All in all, the selection of “colours of your choice” is very large: there are currently 911 additional paint colors to choose from for the 718 and 115 model series. 108 such options are currently available for the Taycan. There are 59 different colors for the Panamera and Macan and 52 for the Cayenne. Due to some overlaps, there are 170 additional shades across all model series.
Customization also in the interior
Michael Essmann not only chose "color of your choice plus", but also other customization options from the special request program of the Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur. His very personal 911 GT3 Touring (992) bears a Porsche logo on the side, which is visually based on the Porsche Heritage Design models.
In the interior, the seats were individualized. Based on the 964 RS, their center panels are color-graded in slate gray and chalk. Carbon trim parts add value to the dashboard. The “touring” lettering is embroidered in red thread on the headrests of the full bucket seats. That fits in with the overall concept: because Elektro Essmann also uses red as a contrasting colour. Photo credit: Porsche
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