Porsche's Best-Kept Secret

Psst. Have you heard about Zuffenhausen’s programme to build the 911 or Cayenne of your dreams?

- Jason H Harper

Jorge Carnicero is a blue man. Many of the numerous cars he owns are blue. His daily uniform is a blue button-up Ralph Lauren shirt, blue jeans and a blue baseball cap. And in June 2018, as he was sitting in the Porsche Experience Center in Atlanta, surrounded by colour samples, he was about to order yet another blue car.

“Jorge, your friend just ordered a car in that shade,” Yana Perros told him gently. “Let me play devil’s advocate.”

The Porsche manager laid a new sample next to the brown interior leather that Carnicero liked. The painted tile, shaped like a 911 Carrera, was a vibrant green.

Carnicero, 68, is a horse breeder who divides his time between Kentucky and Florida, and he cheerily admits that his love of Porsche – the marque and the cars – borders on obsession. He has owned more than he remembers and will happily go on about the subject for hours.

This visit to Atlanta was special. In conjunction with a little-known individualisation and customising entity at Porsche called Exclusive Manufaktur (EM) – which the company doesn’t even advertise – Carnicero was bent on creating the Porsche of his dreams.

Perros is one of three EM managers charged with travelling around North America to help in-the-know clients navigate the process, guiding them both literally and spiritually. It’s her job to figure out what delights a customer, and decide how and when to push them to create a car that gives them a singular experience.