Cars Australia

Lead paint. The only way to get these vibrant colours that last a long time is by adding various Pb compounds.

In the late 80s an Early 90s, they started using other chemistries, which is why the vehicles from that period had such terrible fading and flaking.

They finally got it right in the 2010s, but by that time, people had settled on monochromatic or boring colours.

When you do see colours, they are usually Navy Blue, Jungle Green or Burgundy.

Resale value. Monochromatic colors retain the highest resale value, which is why you see so many of them. It’s boring and awful. My car is orange because it makes me smile and I can easily find it in a parking lot.

I’m working on restoring a car so I have the original color sheet. So many more options 56 years ago. Today you get like 5-6 options and half cost quite a bit more.

Article goes into the broader behavioral picture, but the reason dealers stock mostly black, white and gray cars is that in practice more customers who come in looking for a specific color will settle for black, white or gray if they get a “good deal”, but will walk away from more distinct colors.

A lot of it is due to the dealership model. The dealership doesn't have room for infinite inventory, so they only order vehicles that will appeal to a wide audience. Some buyers will not take a yellow car or a blue one, but very few people will reject a grey car that otherwise meets all their requirements. So we end up with: white, white-grey, off-grey, grey, dark grey, bold grey, charcoal, and black.

Interesting to note, if you go look at the 'build your own' options on a manufacture's website, they do still offer colors. But it can be surprisingly difficult to get, as you ultimately have to order through the dealership. The dealership is much more motivated to sell you what's on the lot today, rather than let you order a car that will arrive in 6 months.

Also, my mother calls this year's grey "mud grey", which I find very funny for some reason.

Because it was and is cheaper than using bright colors.

It is not a choice of the consumers.

Just bought a used car specifically just cause it was a bright orange box. It was priced low because it was a bright orange box with a stick transmission and nobody wanted it.

I love it.

But my last vehicle was a generic silver SUV. Hated it but when I fell upon hard times and had to live in it I was quite happy that I looked like every other car on the road. Best not to draw attention to yourself if you need to sleep in a parking lot or on the side of the road in a residential area.

That article was fascinating - excellent journalism

I am sad about the lack of fun colors. I used to own two orange cars (a subaru crosstrek and a lotus elise), but now I'm stuck in a boring white truck.

It's not just cars. I buy women's glasses because all men's glasses are black, brown, grey, or silver.

And what happened to shapes?

Noticed this several years ago, but color is coming back, in America at least. Maybe it's my perception fooling me, but I'm seeing more and more colors on the road, even bright colors. LOVE the latest gray-blue color, whatever it's called. Dead sexy.

Mine is "Bristol" blue (a light time) and has a little more than a year.

I had a bright orange Polo a while back. I loved the colour and the nicest thing about it is you can easily locate it in a car park.

Looked down a road yesterday and every parked car was white. I went another way.

My car's battery is expected to last usefully ~20 years. Its paint won't. Right now it's dark blue. Some time in the future, maybe yellow.

Idk... the bottom is easier on the eyes personally. I get what you're saying though... little real variety and they all try to just be a slightly different tone....

If I ever buy a car, you can guarantee I'm getting it a dark purple colour if financially possible. The ultimate dream for me right now, as a someone who isn't mechanically inclined, would be a dark purple gen 1 Chrysler Concorde. I don't care if I'd stand out or be an easier target for breaking into because I want that dream to live.

Marketers were trying to capture the normally anti-consumerist young hippy market by appealing to their value of self-expression.