Changing class attributes by reference

I'm relatively new to Python and have problems with immutable variables.

I'm trying to change the value of a class attribute (e.g. car.color). The difficulty is, that I can not use the namespace of car for doing this.

Up to now I did not find a satisvying answer to my questions. In the code below I tried to summarize the possible solutions (workarrounds) I found and their disadvantages:

class Car:

    def __init__(self):
        self.color = "green"
        self.color_list = ["green"]
        self.color_attrib = "green"
        self.name = "VW Golf"
        """
        and many more attributes...
        """

    def makesetter(self, attribute):
        def set_value(value):
            attribute=value
        return set_value

    def set_color(self, value):
        "in this function I directly have access to car.color and can change its value: "
        self.color = value

    def set_attrib(self, attribute_string, value):
        setattr(self,attribute_string,value)

def change_attribute(attribute, value):
    "In this function I can not access car.color directly"
    attribute=value

def change_attribute_list(attribute, value):
    "In this function I can not access car.color directly"
    attribute[0] = value



if __name__ == "__main__":

    car1 = Car()

    change_attribute(car1.color, "red")
    print(car1.color)  # Color does not change because car1.color is immutable

    g = car1.makesetter(car1.color)
    g("red")
    print(car1.color)   # Color does not change because car1.color is immutable

    change_attribute_list(car1.color_list, "red")
    print(car1.color_list)  # Color changes but seems like a workarround
    # Disadvantage: in the namespace of car1, the user has to use a list to access a string value "car1.color_list[0]"

    car1.set_color("red")
    print(car1.color)  # Color changes but seems like a workarround
    # Disadvantage: Car needs a setter function for each attribute

    car1.set_attrib("color_attrib","red")
    print(car1.color_attrib)  # Color changes but seems like a workarround
    # Disadvantage: Attribute has to be passed as string & no auto completion while coding

Actually the function setattr() is internally exactly doing what I want. But it works with a string argument. I tried to look into this function but it seems to be written in C++.

So do I have to use C++ to solve this problem without a workarround? Or is there a Pythionic way of doing this?