Car colour - Fiat axes Grey

I am glad that at least one brand is moving away fromt he trend to leave cars looking like they left the factory in undercoat.

I have friends with grey cars and no matter what they say aboput being 'on trend' and a great colour, it still looks like a half painted car or something to embarrassed to be on the street so trying to fade into the background.

Grey is a fashion trend that has been done, over done and then done to death. Long may it stay away

Surely they should just sell the colours that people want rather than what a marketing team thinks they want.

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I miss sniffpetrol

[i]Surely they should just sell the colours that people want rather than what a marketing team thinks they want.[/i]

The challenge is to have what people want, not what they say the want or think they want. Also you need to do what they will want 6-12 months down the line, not right now. Basically you look at the colour trends in high fashion, these flow down into fast fashion after about 6-12 months. These then follow in home furnishings around 9 - 15 months with house paint and cars at 12 + months.*

* I am not certain of those time periods as it was about 2003 that I was last working on something relevant to colour tred / time and geographic analysis

Perhaps they can have a word with all the bike manufacturers with the none-more-black paintwork

Looking at that colour chart mine is definitely "Des Lynam". If it had been available in "Nuclear Sunset" or "Tangerine Scream" orange I would much rather have had that,

I often felt like this when ordering a new company car. Small cars come in fun colours but when you need a medium estate, the brightest they offer is fade fast red.

Would have really liked my last astra in that metallic lime they offered the Corsa in.

However, a friend in retail explained to me that when the new fashions come in, the put the yellow or pink versions of a top near the front, people come in, look at it, make positive noises, then move the the back of the store and pick the same thing in grey or beige.

Basically you look at the colour trends in high fashion, these flow down into fast fashion after about 6-12 months. These then follow in home furnishings around 9 – 15 months with house paint and cars at 12 + months.*

Something like that, but probably accelerated a bit now.

My ex was a clothes & homeware designer (went on trend-spotting trips etc). She accurately predicted sage green as the new grey for interior design.

We're seeing bikes in that (and similar subdued, earthy colours) already.

Maybe not for cars though?

Would have really liked my last astra in that metallic lime they offered the Corsa in.

Funny enough I just bought a nice Corsa dead cheap for someone, partly because it was in metallic green.

Fiat have developed an image, the colour choices are part of that. Getting rid of grey will only make them standout in a crowded market. I'd expect others to follow suit.

As someone who has owned the same NATO Green Land Rover for 24 years, I find it a bit sad that resale value is the biggest influence on some people's choice of colour for a new car.
Even if they want blue or yellow, they will chose black, white, or some shade of grey in between because they'll get a better trade-in in 3 years time.

On a foggy morning, the last thing you want coming toward you is a fog-coloured car.

I am not a car industry market analyst but I always thought that enough people want cool colours that the company that offered a decent selection would gain enough market share to offset the cost. It's a real shame.

How much does it cost to have a car properly resprayed? How many cans of spray.bike would it take?

Funny enough I just bought a nice Corsa dead cheap for someone, partly because it was in metallic green.

Chap I worked with had his astra in baby poo brown as a way of sticking two fingers up at the leasing company we had to use.

i have a grey car.

I bought it because it was cheap. - much cheaper than the burnt orange/copper one i wanted.

I have a red car. I bought it because small peugeots must be red or yellow or white #Rallye ..... black , white and grey were much cheaper than red.

it seems that people that are buying white ,black or grey are actually hurting their resale by entering a saturated market.

not only that but grey cars in winter in scotland with people unable to manually operate a light switch these days ..... youll often be driving along and just see brake lights appear out the mist attached to an invisible grey car.

It would be good if they built some new cars to go with the bright colours!

500, Panda, 500x and Tipo have all been around for donkeys years.

Fiat, Alfa, Lancia - all shadows of their former selves. Build small, quick, fun cars again please!

My neighbour has a grey Fiat 500.
I've never been in one & have no idea if it's any good. But, it makes me a bit sad to see such a fun-looking car sitting there in such a dull, grown-up colour.

This is a great move by Fiat & hopefully won't hurt sales.

When I bought my current car I was resigned to getting a black, grey, blue or white one as that's pretty much all that was available. Then a burgundy red one popped up in just the spec I wanted, so I got it. It's not gonna set the world alight, but it's quite rare to see another one on the roads & a bit brighter than the normal limited colours you see.

A beige revival is overdue I reckon. Along with brown vinyl roof options  a la Austin ambassador , you may laugh but it's coming

Personally I hate the grey colour that is basically gloss primer. Regularly see a 911 thing in it and just wonder what they were thinking. Everyone knows a 911 should be candy apple glory red

Seems in that there Europe cars are much more exciting colours. But then so are their clothes and dress sense. UK is basically black, navy, beige and grey. And white socks

I've been saying for a long time that grey window frames and doors are the stone cladding of the future. Odly enough I've always been a fan of silver cars though 🤔

I’ve been saying for a long time that grey window frames and doors are the stone cladding of the future.

Can look quite good on the right sort of house, but some people take it that little bit too far.

It's the all-grey interiors that I think will be considered this decade's crime against taste.

I was house-hunting not too long ago and some places looked more like offices than an actual office.

Personally I hate the grey colour that is basically gloss primer.

Mine is metallic grey gloss primer thankyouverymuch!

The irony is that I scraped it the other week right down to the primer. Which is white.

Never did get the grey thing, not this time round nor the last time (?90s). Then it seemed to be more trendy bars than cars etc. Loads of houses round us have been done up with white walls, dark grey ali frames etc. They look tidy, but surely a bit of colour would look even better? Happens on high end new builds as well bizarrely.

Anyway just had a new kitchen fitted in a tasteful greenish hue.

I’ve been saying for a long time that grey window frames and doors are the stone cladding of the future

still looks far better than the fake rosewood or white.

I often felt like this when ordering a new company car. Small cars come in fun colours but when you need a medium estate, the brightest they offer is fade fast red.

I miss flourescent yellow Volvo 850 T5-Rs...

Its easier to change bits and peices rather than have to change the whole kitchen or repaint the house when you decide you need an upgrade.

There might be a lot of grey window frames about but there is massivley more white plastic still on display in the world.

I have a black car cos it was in the showroom and wanted to get rid of it so gave me a 'discount', I also have a silver van because, well it was the right van colour didn't really come into it. I have thought about having it resprayed, but it'd just cost too much.

If car companies want people to chose different colours they should make all colours the same price.

just had a new kitchen fitted in a tasteful greenish hue.

Sage green, by any chance? (see above)

How much does it cost to have a car properly resprayed? How many cans of spray.bike would it take?

To do it well, £6-8k, and that's 'good', in a standard-ish color, not excellent in something unusual.

There used to be loads of companies that would give it a quick buff with 120grit, masking tape over the trim, window seals etc, and overspray in a solid color for a few hundred quid (no metallic, flakes, candies, or even clearcoat). Which was fine when cars were rusty at 7 years old and basically dead at 10 so there was a market for cheap resprays covering up the filler. But these days a lot of 7 year old cars are probably still owned by a finance company, albeit the 2nd owner. You can still get that done, it's more aimed at commercial vehicles tough, businesses that have a handful of vehicles, but aren't quite big enough to be buying a fleet of new vans in a custom color just ad-hock 2nd hand ones.

I am a fan of colourful cars. I have never got the grey car thing - and I have ended up owning two of them. 🙁

I think this is a clever move by Fiat and I like it.

I find it a bit sad that resale value is the biggest influence on some people’s choice of colour for a new car.

the police switched from white to silver cars because they got a better price for them when cars we’re retired from the fleet

around the same time white got quite popular again 🙂

Fiat ?  You'd expect them to do it in rusty rust orangey-red, so you can't see where the paint ends and the oxidised iron takes over.

Fiat has axed the UK’s most popular colour (grey) to concentrate on shades that reflect Italian sea, sun, earth and sky.

So that in 2 years they can bring it back as a 'special order' colour and charge three zillions pounds for it

I am a fan of colourful cars.

I wonder whether a motivating factor for silver/grey cars is people’s experience of coloured cars fading

Vw used to have quite fadey paint - my ‘red’ polo was mostly pink.

a friend had a golf that you could see both the price it was marketed for and the amount it was discounted to on the bonnet from when it first sold 🙂

i ordered a new car a few months back, it's coming soon.  I nearly went for grey, chose white in the end as it was a no cost option !

There's a school run mum who parks over the road from my house in a Mazda SUV - CX5, maybe?
Anyway - that's burgundy red, but she's had it wrapped in a copper/orange colour. It does look pretty good. It's been like that for a few years - no idea what the quality is like up close, but from an 'over the road' distance it looks fine.

The only way you can see it's no the original colour is that the door shuts haven't been wrapped so when you see people getting in & out of it, you can see the original colour.
I'd consider getting that done (depending on cost) to brighten up an ageing car.

Last new car I ordered (2009), I wanted white and it was not an option. Ended up with silver (and a red interior). Now white is the low cost poverty spec on almost everything. Two silver/grey cars later and we've just sourced a used metallic light blue. Much better. The electric green was too expensive, even used.

Grey looks cleaner than black. I thought that was its principal justification. Son2 wants Nardo grey of course.

I’ve been saying for a long time that grey window frames and doors are the stone cladding of the future

Oh!....I might need to repaint our 'house' door.
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Oh!….I might need to repaint our ‘house’ door.

That's calling out for a mural of a porsche old Volvo parked in the garage.

I nearly went for grey, chose white in the end as it was a no cost option

I'd never pay extra to have a grey car... An old boss once paid £700 to have a metallic white BMW - looked almost exactly like the no cost option.

How many people actually get to choose the colour of car from the full range? The last 3 vehicles we've bought were
- low mileage pre-registered golf estate (presumably where the dealers sell them onto a 'reseller' to hit their targets). They had a few and they were all silver. Not interesting but actually the best coloured car we've owned - didn't show the dirt much and didn't show small scratches

- new from dealer VW Caddy maxi life. They gave us a list of cars that were on the production line we could choose from so it was a matter of finding the engine/spec/options you wanted and maybe picking from one or two colours. They did a brilliant lime green and a metallic orange at the time and I'd have had either of those. But we ended up with 'off road grey' (which looked like a dark blue). Scratched light. Dark colours heat up more in the sun.

- year old ex rental company caddy maxi life. Wanted petrol auto and there seemed to be a batch of these at dealers around the country. All slightly different specs so again no choice of colour. Wanted something light but not silver. Ended up with dark Starlight Blue. heats up in the sun. looks nice when it's clean but dull when it's a bit dirty. Scratches light.

Sage green, by any chance? (see above)

**** knows, it is called "mussel" but isn't like any part of a mussel. Prob with these colour names is they are also used as trade marks, so may not be the same as the colour of the thing. It's nothing like either of the colours on the leaves of our sage either, less green-ey.

Vw used to have quite fadey paint

Vauxhall too. Red corsas regularly ended up pink.

I miss the shades of brown of the 70s Morris cars 😉 or a beige Capri with black vinyl roof...

It’s nothing like either of the colours on the leaves of our sage either, less green-ey.

Yeah, the fashionable colour is more like a slightly lighter Land Rover green than an actual sage leaf.

I'm about to do my bathroom in Dulux "Willow Tree", which is roughly the same...

https://www.dulux.co.uk/en/colour-details/willow-tree

I thought that this might have been safety related, shame that they are more interested in marketing than road safety.

Do red-painted cars still fade to a patchy pink these days? Or has paint tech improved? Can't beat an 80s Guards Red 911 Turbo but don't see them around much.

I wonder whether a motivating factor for silver/grey cars is people’s experience of coloured cars fading

Vw used to have quite fadey paint – my ‘red’ polo was mostly pink.

Our 12 year old Ibiza has this starting.

I pressumed you had misspelt, and were questioning Fiat launching a new colour: Axis Grey, which would be a brave move.

I always thought it was bit of a strange idea to paint cars the same colour as the tarmac.

Boring/practical grey van and silver-grey car here. Van colour was our choice as it hides dirt and scratches well and looks clean even when it's soooooo not. I'd prefer the MINI in a bright colour - red or orange ideally - but this one was the best car I found secondhand.

Inlaws have had quite a few brave colour choices: yellow mk1 elise, yellow Boxster, yellow Fabia vRS and currently a turquoise (officially 'Snapper Rocks') BMW. I'm particularly taken by the BMW as it's an unusual colour on a car of this type/size where most are boring/reserved/sheep:

Chap I worked with had his astra in baby poo brown as a way of sticking two fingers up at the leasing company we had to use.

The first car I leased (BMW M135i) included metallic paint so I had Valencia Orange, it was ace.

The few after any paint was extra so I did have a nice flat red Golf R wagon before the default colours went grey. The egolf was Urano Grey which is pretty dismal one, not an on-trend lighter primer grey, not a deep metallic, just meh.

First car I've bought with my own money for a while (Leaf) I went for gunmetal grey - the free flat red was fine except for the blue bits of trim which it clashes awfully with. No other interesting colours (there's a "Sunset Drift" metallic orange, but only in other markets) so grey it was.

This afternoon I saw a Beemer in a Matt Army Green , 1st thing came to mind you’ll never get that looking shiny 🙄🙄🙄

Our car is Black , shows every mark 😞 we swapped from a Candy Apple Red because the price was right 😞😞😞🙄🙄🙄

It's harder than you think though- I'll be respraying my mx5 and the decision between something close to british racing green (renault vert anglais probably, it's metallic and lighter than BRG but manages to have much the same effect), traffic yellow, or ral 2000 yellow orange. Maybe I'll just go with grey, order some surplus from fiat for cheap

For me it's (sometimes) a very slight change in a finish.
I like Ti frames but dislike grey* bikes.
I dislike grey cars,but silver doesn't bother me.
A friend had a Shand built up for him,and from all the wonderful colours and combinations that they offered...
he picked flat(battleship)grey 😢
*Unless the grey is part of a mix

The only way to stop people buying boring coloured cars is to remove the boring colour as an option. The reason is obvious... who buys a new car with the intention of keeping it for decades? Very few people... most are just living with it for a few years before flipping it. It's not as personal a purchase as car brands would like it to be... it's a huge spend on something many people are doing the planning to sell on before they've even driven it. Probably a few flips down the line the normal folk get to buy... and old cars in boring colours look better than old cars in faded, scratched, dated, poorly patched up interesting colours. And the original purchasers know this. They're buying not just for themselves, but for future owners... assuming they care about what they'll get back when they sell the car on. Only those so rich that resale doesn't need considering go for the bright, interesting, quickly dating colours, when given the choice between them and safer boring colours... which is a shame. Would be great to have more interesting stuff out there parked up everywhere... let's face it, cars form our local landscape for nearly all of us (like it or not). Look out the window... see a car? Is it joyful, or joyless?

Nardo Grey, yeah shiny primer. Gunmetal for those that rock up everywhere, taking the bins out whatever.

VAG group have some nice shades like Blackberry. There's a metallic orange, thinks it's a PSA colour that actually looks decent on the right vehicle. Looked good on the old bubble shaped Seat Leon and some of the small Peugeots matched to all red rear light clusters. There's a vivid metallic green I've seen on them quirky pretend 4wd tiny box things that's a nice change.

Anyone remember the fashion for bright yellow sparked by the alternative Ferrari colour? Looked good on some cars Fiat coupes, Lotus and a few others until I saw it on the ugliest version of some small Renault, my god that ruined it forever for me.

Current car is red, as red is faster.

Did get interested in a Cupra Ateca until I realised that they all (in uk) come in the dullest colours ever. So much for Spanish flair!

Grey vs white ?

I picked white, it is nearly £20 less per month over the 4 year lease !

"How many people actually get to choose the colour of car from the full range? "

I did last time. Along with a proper spare wheel. Fold flat front passenger seat and height adjustable boot floor so I can carry 3.2M long items inside the car.  Also all seaason tyres.  Heated washer nozzles.   Just chose boring metallic black for the colour though.

It was the one and only time I have specced a car to be built at the factory with a few options.

I did think long and hard about paying for a choice of paint but reckoned as I intended to keep it for 10 years (5 so far) a better colour than basic flat blue was worth £50 a year over my ownership of the car.

I suppose the thing is now you can have a car wrapped in whatever colour you want nowadays.

I hate paint on cars as it’s fragile and expensive , I’ve got a pearlised white and tbh I’d have rather had a solid white. Hot country and white works better for me , my black glass roof could be used for frying eggs on mid day.

I think the whole user replaceable panels on the original smart cars was great and just years ahead as you could change colour in a few hours or fix car park dings.

Anyone remember the fashion for bright yellow sparked by the alternative Ferrari colour? Looked good on some cars Fiat coupes, Lotus and a few others until I saw it on the ugliest version of some small Renault, my god that ruined it forever for me

There’s definitely a sweet spot colour for each car - the 80s turbo body red 911’s yum yum.

I like silver grey, but not grey.  Silver grey has nice highlights and low lights and looks like the metal that they’re generally made from.  I like that.

But, metallic bronze like my old Z4M was a magical thing.

I actually find most blue cars to be a bit dull, especially darker blues.  It’s in many ways more conservative than black.

Red can look great or very cheap.

I care very little what colour my car is, I suspect few people do.

BTW, it's grey.

I care very little what colour my car is, I suspect few people do.

This
I've had green, white, red (2), blue, black (2) and now silver.

I think it suits Fiat and the cars they do. Bold bright colours on large or premium cars are a bit bold though, which isn't what many owners want.

Do red-painted cars still fade to a patchy pink these days? Or has paint tech improved? Can’t beat an 80s Guards Red 911 Turbo but don’t see them around much.

Yes, it has. Reds are mostly metallic these days, which doesn’t tend to fade as much, and paints are all water-based with a clear coat which, as I understand it, is formulated to protect against UV.

I suppose the thing is now you can have a car wrapped in whatever colour you want nowadays.

True, but you do realise it costs as much for a wrap as it does to have a car resprayed.

who buys a new car with the intention of keeping it for decades? Very few people… most are just living with it for a few years before flipping it. It’s not as personal a purchase as car brands would like it to be… it’s a huge spend on something many people are doing the planning to sell on before they’ve even driven it.

Me, for one. My last car I kept for fifteen years, it was four years old when I bought it. It was dark metallic green, but I wasn’t fussed about it, as I wanted an Octavia TDi and they didn’t do bad colours.

My current car I wanted a specific model and spec, and again I didn’t care about the colour, because Ford only did certain colours in the ST-Line spec, and I liked all of them, so again, I didn’t care what colour it was, it just had to be a semi-auto ST-Line. And I intend to keep it at least as long as the Octavia, but it’s going to be much better looked after and maintained!

I actually find most blue cars to be a bit dull, especially darker blues.  It’s in many ways more conservative than black.

What's known in the trade as doom/caretaker blue. Yup you get less trade in for it.

My first car had one of the best paints ever. Two tone, light metallic blue over metallic silver complete with Alloy wheels on an original t plate Mark 1 fiesta. Loved that car even though I had to share it with my sister. Some k**** nicked it and rolled it over a roundabout.

Looking back it’s been a large selection of black estate cars mainly since then bar a short hiatus in a lovely blue metallic S3

I did see a lovely green Audi yesterday. No idea of the model but it looked recent/new.

Edit: District Green. Looked better IRL than the website.

Me, for one. My last car I kept for fifteen years, it was four years old when I bought it.

I’ve also bought a second hand car and kept it fifteen years. Never had any intention of doing otherwise. But that’s rarely the case for people buying *new* cars, who are the ones picking what gets painted. And then when you were picking the colour of a *new* car… did you go boring? Or did “not care” mean you ended up with something colourful by chance?

True, but you do realise it costs as much for a wrap as it does to have a car resprayed.

No it doesn’t.  A wrap is £1300-£2k dependent on size and colour choice and how much of the shutlines are done.  A respray is £4K-£10k with the same options.

The wrap will last at least 5y.

On a foggy morning, the last thing you want coming toward you is a fog-coloured car.

Only if one of you is on the wrong side of the road!

Sensible option is to have it wrapped or vinyl sprayed, the boring paint is brand new underneath at resale time.

A local place does the vinyl spraying, and makes money peeling it off again a few years later!

My own car is two tone, white above and filth below. It will stay that way until it dies.

When I win the lottery - Porsche Cayman in Miami Blue!...

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How many people actually get to choose the colour of car from the full range?

What I forgot to add was the one new car it was either choose from those on the production line (which were some months away) or add another 3-6 months to get exactly the colour and spec choice we wanted.

My dull (not a) Fiat

My dull (not a) Fiat

That rules! So right.

Hang on... "not a" Fiat?

[ went down rabbit hole ... now want an Arbarth 500E in chartreuse/acidgreen that I could never afford ]

What I forgot to add was...

...what colour new car you bought.