Throughout the years, bespoke has usually been a reserved term for clothing and shoes. With the rise of coachbuilders customizing early automobiles at the start of the 19th century to owner specifications, bespoke is now a common term in relation to cars. Imagine buying an expensive suit, yet it does not fit in the slightest. A high end suit has no point unless it is tailored to each specific buyer. This is now the case with high end supercars.
For the past 10 years or so, there haven’t been many auto makers that have allowed very specific modifications to their cars. If there was, it was the small volume manufactures like Rolls Royce, Bugatti, Pagani, and Koenigsegg that would offer customers complete control.
At Koenigsegg there is no limits to a customers wants. Christian von Koenigsegg has said that if you pay them enough they could build you a helicopter. Koenigsegg can match the colour of the car, leather etc. to anything such as the colour of the customers favourite tie. See the bespoke Agera R BLT below.
Now however, more manufacturers are realizing there is an increasing demand for this level of personalization. People that buy these type of cars want something unique to set them apart from other owners.
Ferrari has introduced a “Tailor-Made” program which allows the customers wildest desires to come true. Any fabric (even denim) can be used on the interior and the exterior colour combinations are endless. Some very loyal Ferrari customers can even go so far as to commission cars that are not even part of Ferrari’s line up.
The F12 TRS (see featured image) is a custom creation based of the F12 for a loyal customer. Keep in mind however, that this type of customization costs a pretty penny. The F12 TRS is estimated to have cost $4.2 million.
Lamborghini also has a program of this nature; ‘Ad Personam’. To quote Vittorio Gabba, manager of the program, “when you buy a dream you want something more”. Ad Personam allows the customer to really have the Lamborghini of their dreams. These modifications also come at a cost such as a matte paint job which comes as an optional cost of $14,000. Lamborghini has also created short runs of very tailor made cars like the Veneno, of which they only made 3 at a price of $4 million.
Some customers are so loyal to the brand that they have colours named after them. Kris Singh, a legend on Instagram because of his passion for cars, has an Aventador with his own custom shade of green, Verde Singh.
Kris also commissioned a 1 of 1 Pagani Huayra called La Monza Lisa. This is a very very bespoke creation with a custom engine, a completely redesigned firewall to allow more noise from the V12 into the cabin, and is signed by everyone at Pagani that worked on the car.
Kris is a very good example of what the modern supercar owner is like. They want it their way and nothing else. Allowing for these customizations has actually made the manufacturers better off as well. Almost every single car Ferrari has sold in the past year has had something done from the tailor made program. This has allowed Ferrari to keep their exclusivity by producing less cars while at the same time boosting revenues from the added cost to the owner of their personalization. Hopefully more and more buyers decide to keep up with the trend and put out some extremely eye catching cars to see on the road.
