wintershade

After ordering 3 highly optioned Porsches in a year (C4S —> TTS, and a Macan for my mom), I may have secured the holy grail of an MSRP GT3 allocation. Since I already came to terms with spending $250K on the car, I sort of have some budget for some CXX options to really take customization to the next level. But when I ask my SA about this, he’s like a deer in headlights. (Smaller dealership). How do I get in touch with my regional rep to figure out if/how to proceed? Do I do this on my own or do I need my dealership to be the middle man? Is there some kind of minimum level of spend for CXX to take your car off the line to do the work? Any sense for how long of a delay it would introduce?

User 81423

interested in this as well

halfmonkey

Congrats on getting a GT3 with no ADM. THat's no small feat these days and with a budget of $250k, you should have a nicely optioned car when done.

First off, your SA will have very little to no knowledge of CXX options nor the process. I unfortunately don't have the contact info for the East Coast rep but you'll at least want to start with asking your SA to get you in contact with the Exclusive Advisor for your region. He/she should be able to do that or maybe someone can chime in here for the contact.

When I built my car, they told me the minimum was $3000. Could have changed since then so be aware. The thing that sucks about CXX is it's not like they give you an options list and say these options are available through CXX. It's basically like the hidden menu at In N Out burger or at Jamba Juice. You kind of have to know what to ask for. Keep in mind, CXX doesn't do anything to alter the performance of the car, meaning they won't change your exhaust to a titanium exhaust or offer your GT3 with magnesium wheels, etc. It's only trim type stuff, so leather, more paint on things, and the likes. It's best to search the forums and You Tube and the web for all things CXX to get an idea of what's available. As for timing, that's a hard question to really answer because nobody really knows exactly how much time it adds to the manufacturing process but I can tell you, I ordered my Spyder in July 2020 with PTS and CXX options and it arrived at PECLA in May 2021. If you order CXX, just be prepared to wait a long time, like at least 6 months to 9 months and maybe even up a year with all of the issues going on from Ukraine, supply issues, Felicity Ace, production shut down, etc. Keep in mind that they pull your car off the production to go to a separate area to complete the CXX installs. As far as I know, CXX installs are all done by hand and not machine.

Congrats and keep us updated on your CXX options.

PTS

It’s likely that your smaller dealer does not deal with a lot of CXX or customization requests. Ask your sales person for their regional Porsche Cars North America, Area Exclusive Manufaktur Manager. If your sales person doesn’t know who their regional rep is, the sales manager or general manager will.

Once you receive that contact, reach out to them directly

unotaz

Here are the 4 levels of custom tailoring at Porsche:

Level 1. Basic CXX through configurator
This should be self-explanatory

Level 2. CXX from an existing selection through Exclusive
There are a preset list of pre-approved CXX options available through your regional Exclusive rep

Level 3. Special Project
As the name suggests, special projects that needs to be approved by Porsche Exclusive, where they open up the world of possibilities for you on the car. Almost everything is possible at this level except engine and body modifications. When one PTS color is not enough? How about 3? (eg. my triple PTS blue Speedster)

Level 4. Co-Creation
True one-off projects (eg. modified engine, chassis, body). You name it, Porsche creates it.

tahoeblue

To answer the original question in this thread, your SA will need to send a referral to your regional EM rep to get you started with CXX. I have a feeling that at the moment they are limiting the number of new customization projects they are starting due to high demand, few regional reps, and a busy EM dept in Zuffenhausen. Or it may take a while to get an appointment with your regional rep. Also figure you want to submit your final CXX requests to Germany 6 weeks or so ahead of the lock date for your build.

In regard to the 4 tiers of custom tailoring mentioned above, I have never heard of the items from the configurator referred to as CXX options, though there certainly are Porsche Exclusive Manufakture options available on the configurator. There must be a list of pre-approved CXX options as mentioned, but this has never been presented to me as a menu when ordering a car. It’s more like going through your wishes, determining which are likely vs unlikely to be approved by Porsche and moving ahead. Of non-approved items, some might be a hard no. Others might become available by going through an approval process, but at the moment that process would be limited for most customers, and would likely cause a big delay in the build.

Chris C.

I found this process very hard to do, working as I did with a non Premier dealership. My SA and Sales Mgr tried repeatedly to engage the East Coast rep for Exclusive with no response for numerous months.

I didn't pursue CXX for this reason, and for delays it might cause, as I couldn't get any info from Porsche as to how to proceed. There were outdated leather and paint samples at my local dealers, and they weren't too helpful since they had no allocations and thus weren't getting any business.

I went to PECLA and found that Covid had them using their Exclusive area for deliveries. Leather and paint /trim samples out of date. Front desk staff did not know who the EM mgr was, not how to contact them.

I called PCNA and asked directly to be put into their EM Manager process, they didn't know who she was and couldn't help me.

Not trying to discourage you, congrats on your allocation. Just know that those EM reps I think only support Premier dealership but for some reason no one wants to tell you that.

I spend countless hours doing my own homework to get my PTS order in.

The EM rep finally engaged right before my order locked, which was good as i wouldn't have know when that date was (TYD was off by months!)- dealer nor PCNA could tell me. Unfortunately she then gave me incorrect info about their exclusive interiors, which cost a bunch of hours to rectify. Then she sent a couple of google photos for colors; I had already found better on my own.

I am sure some of this was Covid. The bigger issue is I believe: Porsche has understaffed this role by a factor of 10 while lauding more customization options to customers. They plan to open design studios around the country - PECs on steroids - but have been slow to do so.

I sincerely hope your experience is better than mine. I have a ton of photos of things if I can help you LMK. I can give you 2 names of EM Mgrs (East and West) and contact numbers, but I believe they are told to focus on Premier dealerships and attending VIP events around the country - which they seem to be doing most of the time. I've also heard that frequent travelers of this process keep these close to the vest (was told so by a GM I met at PECLA). Lovely experience overall.

I do hear that PEC Atlanta is better run - I believe that being next to HQ they get VIPs in a lot.

cosmos

At this point unless your name is Mike, Robert or has an ö in it, nothing is being approved. They over committed and are turning all projects down until 2023.

Chris C.

^^ I was told a month ago that all Cxx work booked out thru Sept.

shack993

I had a similar experience to Chris C. Frustrating. Small market dealership. Getting access to EM rep was impossible, even with a dealer who worked hard to make it happen. But, I am not a VIP.

Its crazy, because I would have spent 10-20% more on my car if I had the ability to sit down with a person for 1-2 hours at a PEC and choose PTS and EM interior and other non-CXX options. For the GT cars, the local dealer experience rooms suck.

halfmonkey

I'm not aware of these different levels unless this is something new since I ordered my car. Regarding Level 1, if you're referring to the Exclusive Manufaktur options showing on the configurator, those aren't CXX options. CXX options are basically the hidden menu options and they show up on the Monroney Sticker as Custom Tailoring Option (Special Wish) with a total cost of all CXX option, rather than broken down by each CXX item.

There are "pre-approved" CXX options that again aren't publicly published anywhere but as I would call it the usual suspect of options such as seat inserts, leather changes, deviated stitching changes, etc. For the most part, these approvals are available unless due to other circumstances such as no supply for a specific stitching color that is approved through CXX or some other reason.

You can also request for something and if it hasn't ever been approved, they can do a feasibility study which add a VERY long time to the wait, assuming it gets approved.

The last "CXX" level is a new program that that is basically, you get whatever you want as long as you have the money to pay for it and Porsche has the ability to build it. Basically one off requests such as changing the rear plastic window on the Spyder to glass or adding front end lift to the Spyder and GT4 since this is only available on GT4 RS or adding magnesium wheels to Spyder and GT4. Here is a link to my thread on this program some months ago. https://rennlist.com/forums/718-gts-...l#post17427944

unotaz

Level 1 used to be part of CXX. Porsche started incorporating some of the most "popular" CXX options on the configurator to streamline the process. A few years ago, you couldn't order leather wrapped roof handles on the Cayenne unless you went through Exclusive and CXX. Now you can, as part of the Exclusive Manufaktur options. The name Exclusive Manufaktur didn't exist a few years ago and Porsche Exclusive was the old name which was later rebranded.

Level 3 Special Project had always existed and only a few hundred cars a year gets approved as Special Project due to capacity. Changing the rear plastic window on the Spyder to glass or adding a fully painted racing stripe would fall into this category.

Level 4 is new and the original name of the program is called "Co-Creation". This goes beyond changing the rear plastic window or adding a full blown subwoofer into a GT2RS (yes, this did happen). Porsche is literally creating new models across all generations. Nothing is impossible. One of my close friend just received his brand new special 993. Some of these cars are never revealed publicly and I can't divulge too much information here.

cosmos

I’m doing level 4 working with Boris and his team to complete a Re-Commission car. The car (a 997), is being transported back to Germany where they will do a complete tear down and rebuild.

now, because of that, other doors are opened up to you. I’m sure Mike has participated and knows of other people who have done similar builds and can probably comment further on it.

tahoeblue

Sounds like you are placing way too much blame on the EM managers, though I am sure they would welcome more staff.

Most of your issues are related to your dealer.

Makes no sense they tried to engage the EM regional manager for numerous months with no response. For the 992 PTS can be handled by the dealership, and I think you are indeed supposed to do your own homework to decide on your color. Your SA should also easily know your lock date, which has nothing to do with the EM manager. The EM interior packages are a configurator item. These can be handled by your dealership with no intervention needed by the EM regional manager.

It would be very helpful if the dealers had samples available of all the current EM interior package color options, but “outdated” leather and paint sample concerns have little to do with CXX.

Sorry that it was a difficult process, but I also doubt there is any conspiracy against smaller dealerships. Maybe the Premier dealers are more familiar with the process.

wintershade

My concern is I’d be going down this rabbit hole also and end up with a frustrating experience.

On one hand, I want a “special” car. I think part of why I haven’t bonded with my TTS is because I was too impatient to wait for PTS and ordered Chalk which was same color as my 4S. I feel like a GT3 deserves at least some level of true customization.

On the flip side, I don’t want to run the risk of not getting a car at all… because they stop GT3 production or if my dealer just decides I’m being too difficult and passes my allocation to the next guy on the list. After reading some of the horror stories here, I feel like until my car is in my driveway, anything can happen. I plan to do European or PEC delivery in part to avoid any last minute shenanigans.