Jed Clampett Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 Why did most automobile companies go away from putting attractive colors inside their cars? (Now all we see is gray or black!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jed Clampett Posted June 28, 2018 Author Share Posted June 28, 2018 Is there any chance that an option to have a nice color in cars will come back? (red, green, blue, multi-colors, etc.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lebowski Posted June 28, 2018 Share Posted June 28, 2018 Did you see my comment in your first thread? What part of it didn't you understand? Please reread it and do this in the future. Thank you... In the future when you start a thread put something in the title that pertains to it such as "What car had the first one piece windshield?" Where are you from? Thanks... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R W Burgess Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 26 minutes ago, Lebowski said: Did you see my comment in your first thread? What part of it didn't you understand? Please reread it and do this in the future. Thank you... In the future when you start a thread put something in the title that pertains to it such as "What car had the first one piece windshield?" Where are you from? Thanks... * * How's that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lebowski Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 41 minutes ago, R W Burgess said: * * How's that? Much better. Thanks.... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 (edited) I guess cars have become appliances. Nearly all are white, silver or black. Like toasters, fridges and TVs. If you do see a color it is a dull one like maroon or a wishy washy blue. Interiors gray plastic. It's cheaper for the manufacturer. If the public doesn't care they are not going to bother about it. Quite a change from the fifties, sixties and early seventies when style and color sold cars. Edited June 29, 2018 by Rusty_OToole (see edit history) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jed Clampett Posted June 29, 2018 Author Share Posted June 29, 2018 18 minutes ago, Rusty_OToole said: I guess cars have become appliances. Nearly all are white, silver or black. Like toasters, fridges and TVs. If you do see a color it is a dull one like maroon or a wishy washy blue. Interiors gray plastic. It's cheaper for the manufacturer. If the public doesn't care they are not going to bother about it. Quite a change from the fifties, sixties and early seventies when style and color sold cars. Rusty O'Toole: Yes. But then there is hope for the future as styles change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 Buy a either a BMW, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, et al. All the above cars have 'build it yourself paint colors and interior choices' under such fancy sounding titles as 'Bespoke', 'Exclusive', 'Individual' where the buyer can specify whatever color combination he or she so desires. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Moskowitz Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 It is all about keeping costs down, the less choices creates lower manufacturing costs. Simple as that. As a former dealer I have been in those conversations at national dealer councils so the large manufacturers are committed to simpler manufacturing in terms of options. As a GM dealer for years it was not hard for me to get special paint, etc....not so today. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grizz Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 1 hour ago, 8E45E said: Buy a either a BMW, Mercedes Benz, Porsche, Rolls Royce, Bentley, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, et al. All the above cars have 'build it yourself paint colors and interior choices' under such fancy sounding titles as 'Bespoke', 'Exclusive', 'Individual' where the buyer can specify whatever color combination he or she so desires. Craig Haha, jeez. When BMW is at the bottom of the list price wise I’ll just have to settle for beige! Just curious but which one of these fine autos do you own sir? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brass is Best Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 Having lots of interior color choices costs money. The American car companies try to keep it a 2 or 3 choices to save on production cost and time. The more a customer is willing to pay for a car the more choices they get. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC38dls Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 (edited) Look who is buying cars today. Does the younger generation really care about the color of a car or even the car itself? I know it has been said before but if you take the actual name off 90% of the mainstream (excluding exotics) cars, can anyone tell what make/model they are? The auto companies build what they can sell. If the public doesn’t demand thru what they purchase there will only be what gives the mfg the biggest profit. Supply and demand go together one drives the other it is up to us, the consumer, to make demand more important. This may set some off but think of the Edsel, even though it was considered a well built car, it was so ugly it failed to bring the sales Ford needed. We keep saying the antique car hobby is dying doesn’t that go hand in hand with this same state of modern style demand? Dave S Edited June 29, 2018 by SC38DLS (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfle Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 This is very analogous to the early days of autos. Even Henry Ford himself started out with nice color cars, brass accents and other nice looking components. Then when Ford went to the assembly line with the Model T to standardize and lower the prices of cars as much as possible, things went to very basic and all black. The specific goal at the time was all about cost and speed of production and you cannot have much variance if you want to accomplish that. The industry seems to go through phases and a lot of that is based on what the consumer wants as well. What is the old famous Model T line? 'You can have any color you want as long as it is black" 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfle Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 (edited) 23 minutes ago, SC38DLS said: Look who is buying cars today. Does the younger generation really care about the color of a car or even the car itself? I know it has been said before but if you take the actual name off 90% of the mainstream (excluding exotics) can anyone tell what make/model they are? The auto companies build what they can sell. If the public doesn’t demand thru what they purchase there will only be what gives the mfg the biggest profit. Supply and demand go together one drives the other it is up to us, the consumer, to make demand more important. This may set some off but think of the Edsel, even though it was considered a well built car, it was so ugly it failed to bring the sales Ford needed. We keep saying the antique car hobby is dying doesn’t that go hand in hand with this same state of modern style demand? Dave S I am not quite sure that generalization about the younger generations not caring about the color or style. If you talk to people they actually really like color and differentiation - just look at the amount of younger people who change rims on cars. For the average consumer today though it comes down to price and function. This is the same thing with modern design. This is becoming prevalent in homes because of less maintenance, less cleaning, less dusting, price, etc. I just saw in the Detroit Free Press yesterday, in an automotive article it talked about how in the US market Dodge has bucked the trend of the lowering sales of cars. We know that Dodge chargers and challengers are the car that is different then other cars as they have different colors, stripes, and other differences. Here is from the Free Press “Despite a shift toward utility vehicles in the United States over the past decade, the Dodge Charger and Challenger continue to buck the trend,” Beahm said in a news release. "Charger is on track to lead the large car segment in the United States for the fifth straight year in 2018, and we intend to keep that string alive by updating the product to deliver the performance and capability that our customers demand.” Edited June 29, 2018 by kfle (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_S_in_Penna Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 Good art and design include color. What painter doesn't carefully choose his color palette, with gradations and contrast, when planning a painting? The monotonous monotones--the dull and sparse color choices for today's exteriors and interiors-- have made me completely unwilling to buy a new car. I think they also mean that today's cars will have a harder time becoming desirable collectibles. I'll happily own several antique cars to satisfy my need for more color. Perhaps in reaction to today's bland cars, not long ago I bought a wisteria 1969 Cadillac Eldorado with a plum-purple interior. I don't wish to live a monotonous life. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC38dls Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 21 minutes ago, kfle said: I just saw in the Detroit Free Press yesterday, in an automotive article it talked about how in the US market Dodge has bucked the trend of the lowering sales of cars. We know that Dodge chargers and challengers are the car that is different then other cars as they have different colors, stripes, and other differences. Here is from the Free Press “Despite a shift toward utility vehicles in the United States over the past decade, the Dodge Charger and Challenger continue to buck the trend,” Beahm said in a news release. "Charger is on track to lead the large car segment in the United States for the fifth straight year in 2018, and we intend to keep that string alive by updating the product to deliver the performance and capability that our customers demand.” Doesn’t that help prove my point? The two cars doing well have a different look than most other cars. But they still are “updating” what are customer demands, performance and capability, nothing about color/interior options. Get the buyers to demand different looks and therefore be willing to pay for those options and the mfg will provide it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rusty_OToole Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 It was harder in the past to offer a variety of styles and colors but they did it because it sold cars. Today if the customers are willing to buy their dowdy apple crates that is what they will sell. Some time in the eighties cars became appliances. Nobody cares about having the most stylish toaster or a car that looks different from every other car in the parking lot. If they did, some manufacturer would meet the demand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John_S_in_Penna Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 Porsche will paint a car to any color which the buyer will provide a sample of. They call such an option "color to sample." They will also do any color of leather, as "leather to sample." They charge much more than car companies used to, but at least a car doesn't have to be boring. Is anyone aware of other companies having similar programs? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
39BuickEight Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 Legislation causes car companies to cut costs because they have to spend in other areas that are not part of design. The end result is a car full of features to protect people from themselves, and few choices when it comes to options packages and colors. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SC38dls Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 How does safety features effect the option of the color of the car or interior? The customer willing to pay for that is essential. I am sure more than one design can be engineered to meet safety requirements. Dave S Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
39BuickEight Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 It costs more for them to offer custom options, and it also also costs more to meet required emissions and "safety" standards. If they have to spend more to do what the government tells them, then they have to get that money back from somewhere else. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pete O Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 My take on this is the trend in the early-mid '80s to "europeanize" American cars. American autos before this time were brashly American in style. Big, lots of chrome, lots of colors. The fan mags (Motor Trend, Car and Driver, etc.) all did comparisons of BMWs and the their like to Fords and Chevys of the day, and of course the snobs at those mags drooled all over the beemer and joked about the Fords and Chevys. Detroit couldn't ignore the bad press. Add to that the euro imports started getting larger market shares, so Detroit countered by offering euro option groups on their bread and butter offerings. Off came the chrome, on went the blacked out trim. Whitewalls were banished, and interiors were all made black to match what BMW was doing. These euro packages started selling because euro design was marketed to be so much more sophisticated than our hokey American design idiom, and we sheep didn't want to be seen in a chromed out barge when the Jones next door had a oh-so-sophisticated 528i on their driveway. It didn't take more than a few years for American tastes to conform to this euro design tidal wave, and gone forever were the bright and beautiful two and even three toned interiors of just a few years earlier. We did it to ourselves by falling for the marketing. Will it ever change? I doubt it, because it would take courage for a manufacturer to buck the trend. If they were to go to the expense of tooling up for a two tone blue interior to go with a robin's egg blue paint job, and nobody buys it, it would mean the end of the career of the executive who pushed it through. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
60FlatTop Posted June 29, 2018 Share Posted June 29, 2018 7 hours ago, Grizz said: Haha, jeez. When BMW is at the bottom of the list price wise I’ll just have to settle for beige! Just curious but which one of these fine autos do you own sir? White is the only color available for the inside of the optional refrigerator between the back seats of my BMW. I would prefer an icy blue. Bernie 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted July 1, 2018 Share Posted July 1, 2018 On 6/29/2018 at 10:22 AM, John_S_in_Penna said: Porsche will paint a car to any color which the buyer will provide a sample of. They call such an option "color to sample." They will also do any color of leather, as "leather to sample." They charge much more than car companies used to, but at least a car doesn't have to be boring. Is anyone aware of other companies having similar programs? See my post #8 above for a partial list. Craig Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8E45E Posted July 1, 2018 Share Posted July 1, 2018 On 6/29/2018 at 7:06 AM, Grizz said: Haha, jeez. When BMW is at the bottom of the list price wise I’ll just have to settle for beige! Just curious but which one of these fine autos do you own sir? None! I just know that 'build it yourself' option is available on those cars I mentioned. And I have seen a few unusual ones, I'll admit: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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