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Porsche develops technology to put your fingerprint on the bonnet

The printing method will eventually allow more designs to be printed on Porsche body panels.

Premium car manufacturers are always looking for ways to offer new personalisation options on their cars, but Porsche has taken this to the next level by allowing customers to have a massive recreation of their fingerprint on the bonnet of their car.

The firm uses a method called ‘direct printing’, which allows for more complex designs than conventional painting while providing a superior look and feel to film application.

While the first stage is to offer a graphic of a customer’s fingerprint on the bonnet, the service will be expanded to offer more designs at a later date.

Porsche Fingerprint
The new printing process takes place at Porsche’s Stuttgart headquarters. (Porsche)

Interested customers can contact their local Porsche Centre, who will liaise with the Exclusive Manufaktur division at the firm’s Zuffenhausen headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany. Specialists there, who help build bespoke creations for Porsche customers, will remove the bonnet of the vehicle after it’s been built, before a robot paints the fingerprint onto the bodywork.

Porsche says the customer’s biometric data is processed to make sure it can’t be used for unauthorised purposes, and the entire process takes place in direct communication with the customer who has complete control of how their personal information is used.

Alexander Fabig, vice-president of individualisation and classic at Porsche, said: “Individuality is very important for Porsche customers. And no design can be more personal than your own fingerprint.

“Porsche is a pioneer in personalisation and has developed the direct printing method together with partners. We’re especially proud of having developed a completely new product offering based on new technologies. A key factor in this was the different disciplines working together in the project team.”

The service will be available from March 2020 and will cost €7,500 (circa £6,300) in Germany.