OK, so I went all out and used XML::Simple, XML::Twig and Inline::Files to write a solution that stores the providers data and the cars XML data, all in XML, all within the main file so you can download it easily. I really like Inline::Files, you should really try it out!

#!/usr/bin/perl -w
use strict;
use XML::Twig;        # of course! (but I use XML::Simple later)
use Inline::Files;    # I wanted to experiment with this one

# I use XML files where lines don't mean much anyway
# so it makes sense to treat each file as just one line
undef $/;

# get the cars XML into a twig
my $t= new XML::Twig( );
my $cars= <DATA>;
$t->parse( $cars);

# now go through the list of cars
foreach my $car ( $t->get_xpath( '/cars/car') )
  { my $color= $car->field( 'color');                  # get the color
    my $obj_car= Car->new( provider => "Provider A",   # generate obje
+ct
                           color    => $color);
    $obj_car->print;                                   # print it
    
    $obj_car= Car->new( provider => "Provider B",      # object with d
+ifferent provider
                        color    => $color);
    $obj_car->print;                                   # print it
  }

exit;


package Car;
use XML::Simple; # used to load configuration files

# the conversion table between original colors and provided ones,
# for each provider
my $equiv;       # provider => { color => equiv_color
                 #               color => equiv_color }

sub new 
  { my( $proto, %args) = @_;
    my $class = ref($proto) || $proto;
    my $self  = {};
    my $color    = $args{color};
    my $provider = $args{provider};
    $self->{provider}       = $provider;
    $self->{original_color} = $color;
    # this will be run only once, then $equiv will be filled
    $equiv ||= load_config();  
    $self->{provided_color} = $equiv->{$provider}->{$color};
    bless ($self, $class);
    return $self;
  }

sub print
  { my $car= shift;
    printf "%s - %s - %s\n",
            $car->{provider}, $car->{provided_color}, $car->{original_
+color};
  }

# called once, to fill the package variable $equiv
sub load_config
  { my $equiv;
    # Inline::Files reads files in the main package hence the ::APROVI
+DER
    my $provider= <::APROVIDER>;
       $equiv->{'Provider A'}= equiv_color( $provider);
       $provider= <::BPROVIDER>;
       $equiv->{'Provider B'}= equiv_color( $provider);
    return $equiv;
  }

# returns a hash of equivalent colors for a provider
sub equiv_color
  { my $xml= shift;
    my $provider= XMLin( $xml); 
    # you might want to use Data::Dumper or Data::Denter to figure out
+ 
    # what's in $provider here
    my $equiv={};
    my $colors= $provider->{colors}->{color};
    foreach my $color (keys %$colors)
      { $equiv->{$color}= $colors->{$color}->{equiv}; }
    return $equiv;
  }
  
__APROVIDER__
<config>
  <colors>
    <color name="Maroon" equiv="Red"   />
    <color name="Brick" equiv="Red"    />
    <color name="Red" equiv="Red"      />
    <color name="Sable" equiv="Yellow" />
    <color name="Yellow" equiv="Yellow"/>
  </colors>
  <others></others>
</config>

__BPROVIDER__
<config>
  <colors>
    <color name="Maroon" equiv="Orange"   />
    <color name="Brick" equiv="Orange"    />
    <color name="Red" equiv="Red"         />
    <color name="Sable" equiv="Orange"    />
    <color name="Yellow" equiv="Yellow"   />
  </colors>
  <others></others>
</config>

__DATA__
<cars>
  <car><color>Brick</color><others>yarri yarri yarra</others></car>
  <car><color>Red</color><others>yarri yarri yarra</others></car>
</cars>
[download]

This is very helpful. Thanks for the code. For whoever is responsible for this site, I will gladly give any assitance I can provide. This site has proven invaluable to me in my learning and expanding of perl knowledge.

package mypackage;

my $color_hash = {
      red => 'Red'
    , brick => 'Red'
    , maroon => 'Red
    , etc ....
};

sub new {
    my ($class, %args) = @_;
    my $self = bless {}, $class;
    $self->{provider} = $args{provider};
    $self->{color} = $color_hash->{lc($args{color})} || '';
    return self;
}
[download]