Why Do Certain Colors Cost $$

What is the logic behind Porsche charging $895-$3,070 for certain paint colors? I am not buying the whole "limited" rational. To me, paint is paint. Do certain colors really cost more for supplies and labor to apply?

[spine911]

Paint prices definitely vary from the color. Red, Black, Pearl Tints are examples of more expensive paints even if purchased on wholesale. Certain paints require more time and skill to apply to get the perfect effect.

[Ronzi]

Porsche charges $3,000 for certain colors basically because they can.
For example the Speed Yellow color on my car was a $3,000 option in '99, and in '03 it was a standard color option, either no addt'l cost or maybe the minimal $800 one.
Other than the black/red/silver trio, the "standard" and "optional" colors change from year to year, depending on who-knows-what.

[deliriousga]

[QUOTE=Ronzi]Porsche charges $3,000 for certain colors basically because they can.QUOTE]

I'm sure some of it has to do with cost, but most of it is simple supply and demand. Porsche will charge more for higher demand colors because they can and you will still buy it.

[berj]

The reason I was given (and it makes some sense to me) is this:

Certain colours are cheaper than others because they are requested for more cars, thus they can paint more cars at a time in the paint shop. For the less frequently used colours they must do the work of changing colours (I presume that theirs some work involved in moving the paint shop(s) from one colour to the next) more often.

In other words, it's not the paint that's costing more money but the labour required to change the paint more often. This would explain them moving speed yellow from an item that costs to a standard colour -- so many people were requesting it that they could paint enough cars at one time (or in a row.. not sure how it all works) to make it economically feasable.

[AUDIOGUY]

Isn't that crazy that certain colors cost more when the car is new! In my search for
my 01 S that I just bought, color did make a difference in resale price. Example was that Black, Silver and Seal Gray were definately priced higher than Red, Blue , Green and White. Speed yellow was almost 2 to 3 k less in every situation!

On the technical side, some colors do cost more to manufacture. Red is most certainly more expensive than black due to the pigments in each. On the manufacture side, more common colors are typically produced more and cost less.
Charging for Metallics or limited run colors is just to compensate for less demand.

Just my 2Cents.

Kindly,
Joe
01 S
Triple Black

[Rail26]

I have the Basalt and I think there is metallic flakes in there...Not sure it really costs as much to manufacture as it does to purchase as an option. Maybe they are magic metallic flakes?

[Ronzi]

After spending about 12 yrs in the marketing dept. of a large manufacturing corporation, I can tell you categorically that product pricing has only the most tenuous relationship to manufacturing cost. At most it provides some indication of a price floor, but nothing whatever for a price ceiling.
The most important factor is "competitive pricing", a mealy-mouthed way of saying "whatever the traffic will bear."

[grease]

Agree with Ronzi's post. People pay big $$$$ to have their "custom ordered" colors and feature combinations.

If you take the base Boxster S and add several upgrades you max out the stock performance potential($$), after that several upgrades add goodies like litronics and better sound($$$), subsequently all you can do is play with colors and textures.($$$$)

[keithfox]

A funny example with colors is the cayenne vs 911/boxter. Certain colors cost half as much on cayenne yet vehicle is twice the size! Price has nothing to do with cost.

I am only on page #1 of the 2007 Buying Guide, and I see one HUGE difference! Porsche has dropped the metallic paint charges from $825 (2005 & 2006) to $690 for the 2007.

I feel sorry for the Cobalt Blue Metallic (code # 56) owners from 2005 & 2006! This Special Paint color dropped from $3,070 to $690!

I really liked this color...but I was not going to spend $3 grand last year for paint!

[P-nut]

Originally Posted by berj

The reason I was given (and it makes some sense to me) is this:

Certain colours are cheaper than others because they are requested for more cars, thus they can paint more cars at a time in the paint shop. For the less frequently used colours they must do the work of changing colours (I presume that theirs some work involved in moving the paint shop(s) from one colour to the next) more often.

In other words, it's not the paint that's costing more money but the labour required to change the paint more often. This would explain them moving speed yellow from an item that costs to a standard colour -- so many people were requesting it that they could paint enough cars at one time (or in a row.. not sure how it all works) to make it economically feasable.

Precisely. The most costly scenario for Porsche would be to have all the colors be the same price, because it will greatly increase the labor involved in setting up to shoot a wide variety of colors. So, instead they set the pricing to encourage buyers to select the colors that are most commonly requested or that require the least amount of setup expense to shoot them. This explains why Cobalt Blue was moved from $3k to $690, and Lapis Blue went the other way - Cobalt Blue proved to be a popular option and Lapis did not.

The optimal and cheapest solution for Porsche would be to shoot all their cars in only one color - but of course they wouldn't sell cars that way.

Probably the only reason the $690 metallic colors aren't free is because the paint does cost more, and metallic is more difficult and time consuming to finish.

well look at the lapis blue.....i would pay extra for this paint colour......it goes from electic blue to blue to navy blue to purple to black at night. ...worth every penny.....un-real paint job.

[der Geist]

"The Customer Can Have Any Color He Wants So Long As It's Black".

-- Henry Ford