“What Ding Yi asked of us was the most complex paintwork that Porsche has ever executed,” says Alexander Fabig, Vice President Individualisation and Classic at Porsche. “The perfect reproduction of Ding Yi’s picture on the body sections took many more times longer than the painting process for a series production car.” With its Sonderwunsch programme, Porsche offers its customers individualisations of the highest quality. The customer is personally involved, meets with designers and developers, and can operate as a co-project manager. In summer 2022, Ding Yi discussed his idea in detail with the Porsche design team and the experts at Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur. At the same time he specified the base paintwork for the body and the rims: 914Olympblue from the “Paint to Sample” programme.
“Working with Ding Yi was an extraordinary experience. His inspiration and passion exceeded our wildest imagination,” says Michael Kirsch, President and CEO of Porsche China. “The raison d’être of the Sonderwunsch programme is to create exclusive cars for our customers. This gives us the ability to present a groundbreaking work of art together with Ding Yi. Through such collaborations we hope to merge cutting-edge technology with aesthetics and look at them with fresh eyes. This one-off piece re-interprets the innovative spirit and the luxurious experience of the Porsche Taycan.”
Every colour on the body was painted on individually
Details of the painting “Appearance of Crosses 2022-2” adorn the bonnet, rear spoiler and exterior mirror housings of the Taycan Turbo S. With the aid of special masking foils tailored to the artwork, experts painted each colour in the picture separately. Then two coats of clear lacquer were added. Details of Ding Yi’s picture are also integrated in the interior of the Sonderwunsch one-off car: in the trim on the front and rear doors, on the dashboard, and around the front cup holders. Although the surfaces of the interior are made of different materials, the colours of the picture details have a uniform look. This is made possible by a special silkscreen printing technique. “This was also a first for us. Until now we had never used this printing technique over such a large area,” says Alexander Fabig.
For space reasons, the picture is not reproduced in full in the interior, but the individual details were selected very deliberately. They appear in the car in the positions they would be in were the complete picture to be spread out over the interior. This creates the impression of sitting in the middle of the artwork while driving. Similar precision positioning was demanded for the exterior paintwork, which is why none of the details of the artwork visible on the car were enlarged or scaled down.
One-off car suitable for everyday use despite elaborate paintwork
Through its deep, enigmatic blue colour and the dynamic tensions of the diagonal composition, the painting “Appearance of Crosses 2022-2” invites contemplation of the universe and its galaxies. This engenders a dialogue with the passion, speed and alternative energies that characterise the Taycan Turbo S. It was accordingly a simple matter for Ding Yi, who has owned Porsche models for some years, to choose the ideal vehicle for his work of art: He describes the Porsche Taycan Turbo S as the most impressive car of the early electromobility era. Ding Yi announced that he would be driving the valuable one-off car at home in Shanghai. This gave the Sonderwunsch specialists in Zuffenhausen no cause for concern. Far from it, because every Porsche is suitable for everyday use. Naturally, for one of the most elaborate Porsche paint jobs of all time, there are also repair procedures.
About Ding Yi
The artist was born in 1962 and is one of the leading lights of Chinese abstract contemporary art. Since 1988, Ding Yi has used the visual symbols x and + in his paintings. Over the past 30 years, he has used the symbols to examine many forms of expression. Ding Yi contemplated urbanisation with concrete art and endeavoured to express more emotion through a macroperspective. Ding Yi’s works have been acquired by prominent museums such as the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the M+ Museum in Hong Kong and the British Museum in London. The artist himself is a regular guest at festivals, biennials and fairs. Ding Yi is the first Chinese artist to work with prominent international luxury brands. Since 2020 he has been collaborating with Porsche.
About Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur
Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur and Porsche Classic enhance and restore unique sports cars with a combination of skilled craftsmanship and attention to detail. As part of its Co-Creation strategy, the sports car manufacturer is reinterpreting its legendary Sonderwunsch programme from the late 1970s, which will enable it to design individualised, one-off cars – co-created by the customer and professionally produced by Porsche.
This range of services encompasses the areas of Factory Commissioning for individual customer colour and material requests directly in production, as well as subsequent Factory Re-Commissioning, and Factory One-Off after vehicle delivery to the customer. Whereas Factory Re-Commissioning is all about individual colours and materials, the Factory One-Off service is a systematic new technical development. Depending on the vehicle’s age, the technical experts of Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur or Porsche Classic take care of implementation.