The extraordinary quality of Porsche is all in the detail. This quality is clear to see at all times in the vehicle interior, and is at its very best when nothing is too conspicuous. With “colour-matching”, Porsche’s corporate quality ensures customers enjoy complete contentment through intensive contact with colours and materials.
The interior colours are defined by the Style Porsche designers. The next step is to create a master colour sample that is used to evaluate leathers, paints, plastics, films, fabrics, carpets and threads.
The challenge is in picking exactly the right colour tone so that there are no clashes. The result can only be considered perfect when every part installed in the interior produces a uniform picture in combination with all other visible components of the same colour tone.
The finest nuances in colour or variations in gloss level on the surface determine the total colour harmony.
“Even minimal deviations are perceived by the human eye, creating a visual patchwork”, says Simone Fett, head of Colourmatching Interior, who works with her team to create that feeling of contentment in the interior of all Porsche models. Simone is a chemical engineer by training.
Colour-matching is based on the high benchmarks of Porsche quality. The goal of colour-matching is to ensure that the purchased parts in production vehicles have no differences in colour. Fine adjustments are made in a special lighting booth.
Five factors play a role in component manufacture: the material, the tool, the process, the process parameters and the colour pigment mixtures.
Each colour tone is developed using different pigment formulations. However, each formula reacts slightly differently depending on the material or process, meaning the colour tone of the finished part can deviate from the specification.
Some 40 different materials are used in the interior of the new Panamera, and more than 70 suppliers are involved in the colour-matching process for the purchased parts.
Before a new interior colour can go into series production, four colour examinations take place. All 600 visible components are then installed in a body-in-white. When the components are placed directly alongside each other in this way, any differences are clearly revealed. The deviations are recorded metrologically using a spectrophotometer.
Despite all of the complex, high-precision measurement technology used, it is ultimately the human eye that decides on a harmonised colour effect in the whole passenger compartment. The objective of colour-matching is achieved when the cabin of the Porsche creates a general feeling of contentment. 
The importance of colour to car design, according to Infiniti.
