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Anyone who likes a somewhat unusual lifestyle does not only want to define themselves through the usual status symbols, but rather to call one-of-a-kind items their own. However, this no longer only applies to tailor-made clothing, exclusive designer furniture or property designed according to one's own ideas. The trend is towards unique, individual automobiles.
In the last ten years, customers have also been demanding the highest degree of individualization from their automobiles. Almost all premium and luxury brands now have what is known as a bespoke department. These fulfill the wishes of all those customers who only have a weary smile for classic special equipment.
Farewell to camouflage – bring on the pink Range Rover
The companies are primarily concerned with secure customer loyalty. Even if the factory refiners do not always agree with the visions of their better-off customers: "We'd rather fulfill the customer's special requests than have a freelance painter do it in the end," admits Miles Hulford, for example, when asked about it whether a pink Range Rover was also within the realm of possibility.
A special paint job would be one of the less bizarre requests that Jaguar Land Rover's VIP Liaison Manager is confronted with in his job. The Special Vehicle Operations department is based in Coventry, UK. Affectionately christened the "Dream Factory", it actually allows customers to put together the car of their dreams.
That's why there are not only dozens of leather samples, paint samples, spools of thread or door handles, but also a huge touchscreen on which special requests can be visualized directly, so that the clients really get the model they are looking for.
The unshakable credo here is: What is in compliance with the law is also implemented in the interest of the customer in individual automobiles.
Dreamed up by billionaires and made by Rolls-Royce
Apart from Jaguar Land Rover, other top-class manufacturers also share this attitude: Rolls-Royce, for example, recently had the so-called "Sweptail" made from a phantom model, which brought the Chinese billionaire Samuel Tak Lee the record sum of 12,8 million should have cost euros. Of the Rolls-Royce Swepttail is said to be the most expensive car in the world.
"Special customers demand special cars," says Rolls-Royce design chief Giles Taylor, defending the complex procedure, which for the British group is part of the brand's sense of tradition. In the early years of the automobile factory, all luxury models were outfitted by so-called coach builders according to the buyer's specifications - and beyond that, according to Taylor, there was no other make whose customers had such extraordinary personalities.
Incidentally, anyone who does not have the wherewithal to have their very own Rolls-Royce designed will benefit from other extras: Taylor now calls the cockpit of the luxury liner the “Gallery” and offers solvent buyers their consoles from one of the Company pool of selected contemporary artists can be individually designed. But not only Rolls-Royce grants its customers such freedom for individual automobiles.
Many luxury brands make automotive dreams come true
In addition to the big premium brands, many refiners and tuners have specialized in the individualization of vehicles. From noble individual pieces to "1 out of 10", there are hardly any limits to the individual refinement apart from the financial leeway.
Here are a few examples of individual automobiles and sports cars:
- Porsche Carrera GT by Gemballa
- Ferrari Superamerica by Peter Kalikow
- Bentley Bentayga Field Sports by Mulliner
On this side of Bentley, Maserati, McLaren and Rolls Royce, too, the individualization departments of the manufacturers are increasingly flourishing, in which a corps of craftsmen make the customers' dreams of a unique automobile possible.
Even though there have been workshops of this kind at Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Porsche for many years, the rush has only increased noticeably in recent years: “In the meantime, for example, almost every second Porsche 911 is individualized,” reveals Boris Apenbrink, who currently runs the Stuttgart group's Exclusive Manufaktur.
Individual automobiles - sports cars from Porsche's exclusive manufacture
According to his statements, these are occasionally vehicles on which the specialists working up to 60 hours work and thus invoice six-figure sums. As a rule, however, the inquiries that ultimately involve three to four-digit sums still predominate.
The repertoire of the Porsche manufactory ranges from comparatively simple extras such as a leather-framed fuse box in the footwell, to an additional key case, to a visibly extended list of options with 600 extra items for accentuation and seat covers, and concludes with the sports cars that are completely freely equipped according to customer requirements.
If you are looking for something absolutely unique, you can also make your dreams come true at Porsche. But you have to reckon with doubling or even tripling the new price of your car. But that doesn't deter better-off customers: In fact, Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur only had to move a few months ago. The property in Zuffenhausen simply did not offer enough space for the many customization requests of the customers.
According to manufactory manager Apenbrink, around 15.000 cars are now refined by him and his employees every year; tendency further increasing. Individual automobiles are very trendy.
Swarovski gems on the Lamborghini Huracan
Lamborghini Automobile SpA, the brand with the bull in its coat of arms, offers its customers something special Individualization program Ad Personam“. Lamborghini customers can have their super sports car customized there with many special requests and equipment details such as special paint colors.
But even here the end of very special customer requests does not seem to have been reached, as this one-off Lamborghini Huracán shows. A lady from England had her bull decorated with 1,3 million Swarovski gems. Incidentally, all the stones were placed by hand.
Apparently, the English lady loves the glittering bling-bling so much that she had all her vehicles equipped with the sparkling paint replacement. In addition to the Lamborghini, she also drives a Mercedes-Benz CLS decorated with precious stones and a Bentley Continental.