Why are all car paint colors so boring?

[Corsair]

why did they cancel silver?

Least popular of all the colours I guess, which makes mine more unique

 

[IchDochNicht]

If you compare the silver on the Model 3 at its original presentation with the standard silver metallic that was used in production, you can see that every silver is not the same. It was exciting on the prototype, but felt a bit bland on the production model. I'm not surprised that it wasn't such a big hit.

Strangely, I have a favorite color for each Tesla model. And it's not always the same.

 

[Stan Moraski]

#timk225, I tend to think the brown was the best color ever made for the model s:

 

[Shock-On-T]

This is not unique to Tesla. Paint colors have gotten so boring. I've been more attuned to colors ever since starting to seriously shop for a Model S. This made me take notice that on my drive to work today, other than my car, virtually every car I saw had absolutely no color. Every car was painted somewhere on the spectrum of white, silver, gray, or black. Ok, maybe there was a beige or tan car (Tesla equivalent: Titanium Metallic) thrown in there, but that's not exactly adding much of a splash. Usually you'll see at least a red vehicle around, but not this morning. Not even a lime green Kia Soul to be seen.

When I thought about it for a while, it was pretty depressing. Think about color video footage from the 50s and 60s. Those ads or documentaries with cars of every color cruising down the Highway of the Future - coral pink, electric blue, pea green, pastel yellow - visually, it was just so much more interesting and personal. Now, car colors are a dystopian drabscape. Even the rare colors offered are dull - the blue, brown, and green choices offered by Tesla have been very nice, but they're each muted and bland.

Even my current bright blue Mercedes EV isn't very imaginative, but at least it's easy to find in a parking lot. I know the aftermarket wraps are a way to fix this problem, but I really don't want to deal with that.

Why does everyone prefer such conservative colors?

I first noticed this trend in Korea, not sure why.
10 years ago in Korea you would only see 10 shades of dusty brown, gray, black or white. At the same time here (in Australia) you would see blue and orange and lime and a few shades of red, some cream etc etc.
Now we are the same. Just about everyone in Sydney drives a white, black, gray or silver car.

I have half a mind to get a lurid pink wrap applied to my car just to break the monotony for my fellow motorists

 

[2012MS85]

My 2nd favorite Tesla color is their blue, which looks amazing on the 3!

My favorite Tesla color was their original, limited edition Signature Red, which is why I searched hard to find this one when I bought it last December.

 

[sillydriver]

View attachment 392410
My 2nd favorite Tesla color is their blue, which looks amazing on the 3!

View attachment 392405
My favorite Tesla color was their original, limited edition Signature Red, which is why I searched hard to find this one when I bought it last December.

Mine is the current red. I'd forgotten how beautiful the signature red is. You have a great looking car!

 

[Destiny1701]

View attachment 392410
My 2nd favorite Tesla color is their blue, which looks amazing on the 3!

View attachment 392405
My favorite Tesla color was their original, limited edition Signature Red, which is why I searched hard to find this one when I bought it last December.

I thought mine was nice but signature takes it wow.

 

[whitex]

Why does everyone prefer such conservative colors?

I think "conservative colors" are colors picked by the majority. So your question really is "Why does the majority prefer the colors prefer by the majority?". The answer is "by definition, they will always".

PS> Full disclosure, I bought 4 white Tesla's to-date. So yes, most popular color. 3 of them had solid roof, which is not preferred by the majority (4th one didn't only because it was not available). Also, one of them I deleted red calipers which would have come with the car for free, also not a majority choice.

 

[GreenT]

3rd vote for original signature. But I never did understand when I got mine (just over VIN 2000) they refused to paint it Sig Red.
Then I got a quote for "sig red" 3rd party and it came in around $20k.
High end paint shop told me the black had to be completely removed as did the base due to the composition up of Sig Red.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Not all car manufacturers are this boring.

GM has some interesting colors and you don't even have to pay extra for them.

My Spark EV is lime green.

The Bolt comes in some cool colors such as orange, highlighter green, asphalt grey.

Tesla used to have some interesting colors like the titanium or the green but they've all been discontinued.

Small cars told to have bolder colors, because they're more likely to be owned by younger people. Maybe also female v male thing.

E.g. there was no jalapeno Prius liftback, but there was a jalapeno Prius c.

 

[Rogue Synapse]

The Bolt colors are actually pretty cool. Too bad the car isn’t.

I wish I could port the shocking blue of my current B-class over to my future Model S. I guess the next best thing in terms of boldness is the Multi-coat Red, but this seems to command the highest price premium. I’m not sure I want to deal with a wrap, because I’m already stretching my budget just to get a used MS.

In the end, I guess I don’t care enough about the color to pay a huge premium. And that statement probably explains why other people prefer such drab colors - it’s not the most important thing to them, so whatever. A positive feedback loop, a Catch-22: I’ll just get what everyone else gets... Everyone else just gets what everyone else gets...

 

[SammichLover]

What they all said. There are colors that sell, and colors that look pretty, but don't sell.

You also have to worry about reselling the car. Not many men would want to buy a purple car (I actually own one), nor would many people want to buy a used poop brown car. I remember my grandma had an old yellow Cadillac (see below)... who would want that color?!?!

Color trends also change. Remember the teal cars of the 90's? How about the maroon cars of the 80's? Grey, black, and white never go out of style.

This is what happens when car manufacturers try to venture outside of the standard colors:

I'll give a pass on the Grand AM (that's what the Pontiac is there I think?) and the Bug probably too (it might be ok in person), but the others I like. That Eldorado is flat out gorgeous in that color, although I'd prefer dark green pinstripe to the navy.

 

[SammichLover]

Small cars told to have bolder colors, because they're more likely to be owned by younger people. Maybe also female v male thing.

XY chromosomes here and I bought, on purpose, new, a Copper Saturn.

Okay, I wasn't "old" then as that was 20+ years ago, but I am now and I bought the Model 3 in Obsidian Black Metallic to make sure it'd be easy to go to a wrap on the door jams, around the cooling intake scoop, various sub-levels of visible paint such is around the bottom of the windshield, and such. I finally got around to getting Deep Space Flip installed last month, although I still need it tweaked in couple spots so the ceramic isn't on yet until later this week.

Although I did it because I like how it looks I've noticed it really turns heads, even at Superchargers.

 

[jkoya]

Lamborghini has some cool colors. I like the names too - Verde Mantis, Rosso Mars and Arancio Xanto to name a few.

 

[SammichLover]

Lamborghini has some cool colors. I like the names too - Verde Mantis, Rosso Mars and Arancio Xanto to name a few.

McLaren's Mauvine Blue is knock-off stunning in person.

 

[trayloader]

That´s not boring

 

[tonybelding]

I think it’s slightly different than that, but with an important distinction. Most people will *accept* a black, silver, gray, or white car so these are easy colors for manufacturers to standardize on, satisfying most while keeping options limited. I think people often WANT more choice, but every additional option increases complexity and cost for manufacturers.

This is the best explanation I've heard. The incentive for the company is to produce cars in colors that most people will accept. That's not quite the same thing as producing colors that people really want.

Example: The base or "default" color on Teslas now is white. White is logical. It's highly visible without seeming flashy or garish. It's (reputedly) cooler in the summer. Even if you don't love white, it's common and inoffensive.

White doesn't show dust or scuffs nearly as much as darker colors. Sometimes I wonder if this isn't the major reason why Tesla made white the base color. They may have ran into too many "princess and the pea" type buyers (like that Audi guy on YouTube, haha!) who got a black car and then took it out in the sun and put it under a magnifying glass and said, "OMG, there's micro-scratches! WHAT KIND OF GARBAGE ARE YOU TRYING TO PUSH ON ME? I DEMAND A REPLACEMENT CAR!!"

And, to my eyes, white does look good. The only negative is that it seems like half the cars on the road are already white. It doesn't stand out, and it does nothing to alleviate the monochrome automotive landscape.

 

[D.E.]

I could be wrong but I think this boils down to profitability. Tesla is having to pinch every penny to stay in the black (no pun intended) and in order to do that they have to limit the choices for inventory reasons. For example, I think the bumpers (plastic pieces) might be pre-colored... so if you want to have enough parts inventory for cars as they inevitably are needed (eg. when a car gets in a wreck) you only have so much space to keep so many different colors of bumpers in stock ready for a body shop to request.
That's one angle. I think the other angle is just efficiencies of the line... I've read several times that the paint area was where the line got really backed up (could have been a little undersized for the numbers of cars they were trying to run through there) and so one easy way to get more volume out of the paint area of the line was to reduce the number of colors so that there would be less downtime needed to change from one color to the next...
These are just guesses on my part so don't take it as gospel. I think your best bet is to wrap if you want something unique. Order a black car and put the saved $$ towards a full wrap.

I’m not sure that is it. I’ve visited two BMW factories, it was about 2005 or so. The painting was fully automated. The spray guns changed the color sprayed as necessary. They’d do several the same color then the spray guns would presumably purge and start spraying the new color, no problems, no fuss. It seems with modern equipment any color could be sprayed just as easily. They attached the extra parts on a jig attached to the car so those were sprayed at the same time.

Flexible bumpers used to require a different, more flexible paint, so perhaps you are right about those parts being sprayed separately.

I think they probably limit colors to the popular colors that sell well. I was disappointed when basic white was discontinued, so then if one wanted a white car, the $1500 pearl white was the only choice. Black was free. Now the pearl white is free and black costs extra. They offer the basic car in only one color and they charge for all other color choices. I think it is simply a profit move. Otherwise does it really make sense that simple red paint is a $2500 option?

As far as wild colors go, I’m sure if there was a profit in it we’d see them.

 

[Trunk Gap]

Yep, Tesla colors are whack. Gray best, white next. Blue and red are cool but get old quickly, IMO.
Too bad green and silver are gone. Oh well. Makes sense though, I’d buy it if it was primer, they know that

 

[Wol747]

XY chromosomes here and I bought, on purpose, new, a Copper Saturn.

Okay, I wasn't "old" then as that was 20+ years ago, but I am now and I bought the Model 3 in Obsidian Black Metallic to make sure it'd be easy to go to a wrap on the door jams, around the cooling intake scoop, various sub-levels of visible paint such is around the bottom of the windshield, and such. I finally got around to getting Deep Space Flip installed last month, although I still need it tweaked in couple spots so the ceramic isn't on yet until later this week.

Although I did it because I like how it looks I've noticed it really turns heads, even at Superchargers.

Bingo! I had a gold Saturn from 1992 - one of the best cars I ever owned:everything was basic but in exactly the right place. Sold it in 2004 and it looked as if it came straight from the dealer - the design was undated.

One of the other posters was correct IMHO - people DO want more of a choice of colours but when all you are offered is a limited set you either buy or don't buy: most of us won't pay a bunch extra to get a respray after purchase.

There's also the safety question - white, silver, orange all stand out well, black and dark colours blend in with the background. I think insurers take it into consideration when quoting.

I chose Midnight silver - but had to cancel the order - because I don't like the glass roof and it blends in with the car's colour. Wife wants the re-order to be white, which to me makes the roof look as if it belongs to another car!