Why You Don’t See As Many Bright Color Cars on the Road
Cars in Bright Colors Aren' t As Popular As You May Think
Automakers' palettes include an array of shades but most consumers don' t want them
Linda Dono, AARP The sea of gray in parking lots nationwide means a lot of people have trouble finding their vehicles. But some buyers do have bright ideas. Gray, silver, white, gray, darker gray, lighter gray, whiter white, black, silver. Watch traffic a few minutes, and you'll see that dull and hypnotic parade of vehicles in 50 shades of gray. Half or more of all vehicles now sold, even excluding generally white fleet vehicles, are somewhere on the gray scale. We'd love to tell you to grab your shades because the zowie-bright antidotes are coming. No longer would you have to squint to find your car in a parking lot or walk down the aisle randomly clicking your key fob to see a flicker from a not-so-distant taillight. But we would be exaggerating. "It feels more like the Model T days, of which Henry Ford wrote in his autobiography: ‘Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black,' ” says. We re drab when it comes to cars br
And this lack of flashiness is not a flash in the pan. "All the data I have seen suggest nothing is going to change soon,” says Ian Beavis, chief strategy officer at global researcher AMCI in Gardena, California. Still, funky alternatives are out there. Ford, Hyundai and other brands within reach of your budget sell charming shades of blue from indifferent to demanding. Yellows from airy to solid show up on models from Honda and Toyota. Kia offers green. Jeep has teal, provocatively called Bikini. Use the for a hassle-free purchase experience Two-tones? How about an orange roof over a silver body? Nissan Kicks, a small SUV, is at your service. Also, “reds have a certain buyer that's consistent. Reds will soldier on,” says Gary Robinson, American Honda Motor Co.'s senior manager of product planning. Honda, with American headquarters in Torrance, California, also makes the Acura premium brand. Shades of red are about 10 percent of new-vehicle colors, according to Pittsburgh-based paint-supplier PPG. Not so blue about the blues br
Beyond the, uh, evergreen nature of red, blues seem to be the rescuers of the moment: from the barely blue of Hyundai's Veloster N high-performance coupe through the really, really blue on a variety of cars and trucks, to the molten metallic that Ford dubbed Ford Performance Blue when it launched the go-fast 2019 Edge ST, and now, with little difference, calls Atlas Blue on the brand-new 2020 Explorer. "Blue is big time,” says Jane Harrington, manager of global color styling at PPG. The company makes “coatings,” industry speak for paint. At companywide meetings, including PPG representatives from nonautomotive departments, the blue momentum was spotted a few years ago. Ford shoved it forward by showing blue versions of all models at the 2015 Detroit auto show, she says. Blue is holding at about 9 percent of all new vehicles in North America as of 2018, her latest available data, just one percentage point shy of red, and it has room to zoom. Green? An afterthought at 1 percent. Orange hovers in the wings, dropkicked into the mix in a blaze of orange at the 2018 Detroit auto show. But it's not a serious player yet. "We've got those reds, yellows, blues, greens, oranges,” and car shoppers like to see them in showrooms and on car lots, says La Shirl Turner, head of advanced color and materials design in North America for Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. “Even if they're not going to get that (distinctive) color, they still want to have that choice. "But not every color looks good on every model, so we have to be careful,” she says. Silver equals sleek techy in buyers minds
Before you swan dive into the automotive rainbow, keep in mind the strong reasons for our present subdued streetscape. Bland colors usually have better resale value, AMCI's Beavis says. It feeds on itself: That's what people have learned to buy; therefore, that's what dealers stock, so that's what's mostly available to buy. Exceptions are from people who lease, he says. Up to 33 percent of all new-car buyers do, according to researcher Edmunds.com. They're more likely to chance a zippy color because they can be rid of it in two or three years when the lease expires. But otherwise, we go back to the monochromatic palette, Beavis says. Many people think “modern, angular car designs look better in silver and white,” he says. "Societal trends have a role, too. Silver, gray and black are associated with technology and modernity,” his data show. Think about the silver case of laptop computers, the black shell of cellphones, the gray housing of voice-activated home controls, the gleaming black and white of fancy coffeemakers. People also believe that gray and white don't look dirty as easily as more colorful surfaces, Beavis’ data show. (Black is the gray-scale contrarian, looking filthy at the first speck of dust.) ” ‘I buy white because it stays cleaner,’ or ‘Gray doesn't look as dirty as others.’ We hear that a lot,” PPG's Harrington says. But still, can you find your car, SUV or pickup easily after a crowded football game? Here are some distinctive-colored cars that, for the most part, might even be fun to drive. No promises on resale value. Freelance writer James R. Healey was auto writer and columnist for USA TODAY. of 2020 Hyundai Veloster N
Color: Performance Blue A breath of blue — a shade that Jane Harrington, manager of global color styling at PPG, said is the next blue to have mainstream ambitions — with bright red trim can be chosen to distinguish this high-performance coupe, signified by the “N.” A 2-liter turbocharged engine boasts a hefty 275 hp. A six-speed manual is the gearbox. Shifting for yourself: Remember that? And the similar 2019 Veloster got a Top Safety Pick rating from the Insurance Industry for Highway Safety (IIHS), the group's second-highest award. Starting price: $28,320 MPG: 25 combined city/highway
of 2020 Ford Explorer
Color: Atlas Blue Ford favors a rich, metallic sheen for its blue, and you needn't flirt with the $56,000-and-up high-powered ST version shown to get it. Atlas Blue — looking a lot like the Ford Performance Blue that made its debut on the 2019 Edge ST — is available on the base Explorer XLT, a three-row, rear-wheel-drive rig that starts at $38,870 (four-wheel-drive is standard on the ST and fancy Platinum models, and is $2,000 extra), with four-cylinder, 300-hp engine. ST gets a 400-hp V-6. A gas-electric hybrid model has 318 hp. Explorer's a ground-up redesign and has no crash-safety ratings yet. Starting price: $38,870 MPG: 20 mpg for an ST; 24 for a rear-drive four-cylinder; 28 for a rear-drive hybrid of 2020 BMW X2 sDrive 28
Color: Galvanic Gold Metallic Even luxury brands are forsaking their dedication to grays and silvers to brighten the scene. And you'll pay for it. The spiffy gold metallic is a $550 option. It's not unusual for the boldest colors to be extra-cost options. Insurers usually treat all colors the same, all else equal, but when the color is an extra-cost option, it might bump up your premiums, says Penny Gusner, senior consumer analyst at Insure.com. Starting price: $37,945 (add $2,000 for all-wheel drive) MPG: 27 combined city/highway of Jeep Wrangler
Color: Bikini Photo is a 2019 model, but Jeep says 2020s, on sale later this year, will look the same. You just know the free spirits at Jeep parent Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) picked the name so they could say, “Hey, saw you in your Bikini. Looks great.” Indeed, “We love Bikini. It's great. There might be room for it on other models,” says La Shirl Turner, FCA's North American head of advanced color and materials design. Price range: About $30,000-up, depending on model and any as-yet-unannounced price changes for 2020 MPG: 19-23 range in combined city/highway driving of ADVERTISEMENT of 2020 Kia Soul
Color: Solar Yellow Remade for 2020, it got more storage space under the hatch and a bit different look. Among few 2020 model cars tested yet, it gets the best-possible rating, Top Safety Pick +, from the IIHS. Starting price: $20,035 MPG: 27-31 combined city/highway driving, depending on model of 2020 Toyota Corolla
Color: Barcelona Red If ever any cars needed brightening up, it's the run-of-the-mill compact sedans. Thus, you're starting to see vivid reds, as on this Corolla, and standout blues among the compact-car palettes. And IIHS rates the 2020 Corolla a Top Safety Pick (without the “+"), the second-best overall score the insurance trade group awards. Price: $21,005 for LE model; red isn't available on lower-price L MPG: 32-34 for gasoline models, 52 for hybrid in combined city/highway driving of Honda HR-V
Color: Orangeburst Metallic A 2019 is shown. Honda says no changes in the 2020, coming soon. The ‘19 got a Top Safety Pick rating from IIHS. The somewhat copper-like color is part of the orange presence seen at the Detroit auto show in recent years, says PPG's Jane Harrington. Unclear how popular it'll become, or how long that might take. Starting price: $23,415 (for the 2019 Sport, lowest-price model offering Orangeburst; 2020 isn't on sale yet) MPG: 28-30 combined city/highway driving of Subaru Crosstrek
Color: Sunshine Orange A 2019 is shown. Subaru says 2020 won't change. The ‘19 got a Top Safety Pick rating from the IIHS, the organization's second-best rank. All-wheel drive is standard; automatic transmission is a $1,000 option. Crosstrek also lists a Kool Gray Khaki, which you're forgiven if you think looks like the kind of light blue that PPG color czar Jane Harrington thinks is the next up-and-comer. Starting price: $22,870 MPG: 25-29 combined city/highway driving More on Autos
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