I do a lot of kvetching about the sad lack of color to be found in the automotive world, and I think I’m right to kvetch, as we are in the grips of a severe chromatic crisis, where actual, genuine colors have been muscled out of our global carscape by the pervasive and insidious specter of achromatic colors. You know what I mean, the brutal grayscale horde, white, black, and a never-ending gradient of gray.
Anyone who looks out a window at any random road or parking lot knows what I’m talking about here; the vast majority of cars out there are some shade of gray. Sure, automakers try to mask this by giving the non-colors evocative names like Slate and Dusklight and Graphite and Ennui and Abandonment, but the result is a world further denuded of color.
This is a well established trend, not just in the automotive world, but among almost all human-made things. For whatever reasons, we seem to be sucking the color out of everything, and there’s even been studies showing this to be true. Also, it sucks.
That’s the global color chart from BASF’s 2023 Color Report, and you can see how dominant the grayscale goons are. It’s 81% achromatic! Ugh. How is it in just America?
Oh it’s a little better in America. 80% achromatic. Again, ugh. Has it gotten any better recently? Here’s the 2025 global report:
Oh crap, it’s worse. 88% grayscale. And that’s not even counting beige. Blue is the top color at 6%, then red and green at 3% – green making a sort of surprise increase here – and everything else is barely hanging on at 1%.
My headline was hopeful, though! And here I am being all gray and gloomy! But I am hopeful, and I’ll explain why: the past two press cars I’ve received have both been blessed with actual, real colors! Honestly, it’s been far too long.
The first was a Volkswagen Tiguan R-Line, which arrived in a deceptively subtle shade of green:
In certain lights, it had a golden cast to it as well, almost iridescent in a way I was not able to fully catch on film. Or pixels. Whatever. I’ll just say it’s better in person, and the color has some real depth and complexity.
Volkswagen calls it “Avocado Green Metallic” after that stuff you can put on toast that will eventually prevent you from being able to buy a house, or something like that. It’s definitely a real color, but it’s also subtle enough that it could be a good way to lure those candy-asses too afraid of real colors to come over to the side of light.
I liked it a lot, and I have to donate props to VW for offering an actual, if perhaps subtle, green.
But then the real whammy rolled up to my house:
Hell yeah, Toyota! Yellow has been my favorite car color for decades – over the years, I’ve owned, let’s see, five yellow cars, and still have two. And this Prius is clad in a wonderfully, unashamed yellow! It’s close to School Bus yellow, but not quite. It’s less orange, and a little deeper. Toyota calls it Karashi:
For those of you who don’t know, like me ten minutes ago, Karashi is a kind of Japanese Mustard:
Here’s how our pals at Kikkoman describe it:
Karashi / Japanese mustard (辛子 in Japanese) is a condiment made by adding powdered Japanese mustard seeds into water or kneaded into paste form in warm or cold water. Karashi is primarily sold in tubes in Japan. The distinctive spice, felt at the back of your nose, is perfect for enhancing the taste of Oden hot pot dishes, “aemono” (dressed dishes often made with fresh seasonal vegetables) or “natto” (fermented soybeans).
That “felt at the back of your nose” thing struck me as odd at first, until I realized I know exactly what they’re talking about.
This yellow works so well on the new Prius design – which is vastly better than the previous generations of awkward-looking Priuses – and it made me realize how a, say, silver Prius can just turn into another anonymous suppository, but put it in this yellow and then the sporty, sleek, fun aspects of the design really shine.
Color matters.
When the press fleet driver dropped off the car, he mentioned that he wasn’t sure about the color, and he said it like it made him uncomfortable. That struck me as sad, because it’s a reminder of how conditioned we have become to being uneasy with real colors, which is a miserable state of affairs.
But the fact that these two huge carmakers, VW and Toyota, have both decided to let their press fleet cars exist in bold, unashamed colors, I take that as a good sign, a sign of hope. If these are they cars they want the press to see, the cars they want photographed and shown to the world, then maybe, just maybe, that means the pendulum is swinging back to a world with colorful cars.
I have a vision! A vision that requires color vision, a vision of a future where our roads look like a bag of Skittles was decanted all over them, a myriad of color everywhere. Seeing these cars ignited a little spark of hope, a hope that we will be freed from this automotive grayscale prison, led out by mustard and avocado-colored cars.
We all just have to believe!
I’ve mentioned this before, but way back in 1980 you could get a garbage econobox Chevy Chevette in a choice of 14 exterior colors, 5 two-tone exterior combinations, and 5 interior upholstery colors. We’re talking 3 blues, 2 reds, yellow, green, orange, even 2 beige tones.
Recently I played with the Nissan Leaf configurator and built a mid-range model in their cyan blue (the color of seemingly all the cars in press reviews, so you’d think they’d make a lot of them, right?). Result: one car within a 100 mile radius and it was the highest trim level. Of course, I should have expected this since we all know Leafs are just flying off the lots at Nissan dealers everywhere.
The crazy thing to me is I have tons of gen 2 leafs and ayria around me. Almost all blue. Every once in a while maybe see a white leaf that has 50% chance of being a fleet car. Rarely ever see a silver. Sometimes will see a black ayria. Rarely see anything other. I barely see any gen 3 leafs if I do it’s the dark blue. All the dealers that had a stock of blue gen 2s before have no blue gen 3s. Just black ,white ,grey. With a few of the dark blue cars starting to be available. Most of the lease returns are turning them in them going to buy or lease a ionic 5 either new or off lease. I wonder if they had a stock of the new leaf sitting there with one on the show room floor for $29k before incentives If that would be the case.
I like Torch’s slightly unhinged takes on various topics and his fixation on the weird and the wonderful. But his writing style is what brings it home. There’s a tendency towards the absurd-but-relatable metaphors and then there’s the vocabulary. It feels a little like Mad Libs – every fifth-ish word is not what most writers would pick but is instead replaced by a carefully calibrated synonym that is at the same time wrong and yet perfect.
what a nice thing to say! thank you!
Where is my orange? And not that BS copper color they call orange. 914 Porsche orange! Although that yellow is superb. The German greens have always been weird. remember the VW Golf/Rabbit in some lime vomit green? I do. At least you saw it coming, unlike the skulking grayscales of boredom being sold today. I hate to admit this but Chevy is doings some nice colors. Passed an equinox EV on the highway goi g to Madison in a very entertaining metallic blue.
At the same time, if 20% of the achromatic cars on the road magically changed to copper, I’d be thrilled.
They’d be easier to see in the rain with their lights off, at least.
I’d even accept that mustard/baby-shit color used on Geos around the time they became Chevrolets, or the similar one from the early Focus.
I’ll second that, as long as they call it metallic copper. And offer a real orange alongside, and not the pale pumpkin color that Sunbaru offers. I’m perhaps a tad particular on this as I also truly dislike calling the Creep in Charge the orange whatever. His color is exactly breast fed baby shit brown. I should know Ive changed diapers for 4 kids.
HELL YEAH BROTHER!
I just got the bright blue Trax, it’s my fourth blue car in a row. My wife wouldn’t let me get the puke colored Trax, even though it wasn’t my first choice, I still would have taken it over black, white, or silver. And my wife’s two last cars were red.
We just bought the same thing for the daughter – it’s nice to have some color in the driveway (the Camry is black and the Impreza is silver…). Somehow the Trax looks way better in that blue than the Trailblazer does.
I think the yellow is only available with a higher end package, though. I’ve seen more than I’d expected in yellow and it looks great.
I got a GR86 in Smurf blue and, as the cars have become somewhat common, I still get stares and thumbs up and I think it’s because most of the ones I see are bland colors that don’t get noticed by ordinary people. This kind of bright blue has become moderately common since I bought it, with Civic and Corolla hatches and RAV4s frequently sporting it, yet it’s still apparently enough to stand out.
If Toyota would just put proper rear door handles on the Prius and get an adult to design the instrument cluster, I’d be all over that yellow one.
The Prius needs to be quirky sorry.
Quirky is no excuse for bad ergonomics. Things can work properly and still be fun.
Are they ergonomically bad? I can imagine a handle in that location being superior. Is it a matter of a too-small lever behind the scoop?
For me, the key weakness is not being able to get a good ‘purchase’ on the door. Why is this important? Well in a climate where we often get a layer of ice on the car and need a good yank to get a door open this is a headache. The same would apply in an emergency , say, if the door is bound from a crash. TBF, lever style door handles all share this. Mercedes Benz made a big deal of this decades ago, but the knowledge seems to have been lost.
For others, the example I have is my neighbour who had a Toyota CHR as a loaner when her car was in the shop. She said that neither her child not her mom could comfortably articulate their hands to open the door, forcing her to always get out to help them in. I could see that being common enough that a responsible designer would veto that solution.
Nobody asked for it to be done this way, just some child in marketing.
The Kirashi yellow on the new Prius, the vibrant blue on the new Leaf (which they call surf or sea something-or-other I think), and the Area 51 blue-grey and Cyber Orange Metallic that the Ford Maverick originally came in (and the Light Blue it comes in now) are all great, and a big part of what makes those cars appealing and desirable.
It kills me a little bit every time I use my daily, an ’04 XC90 that it’s basically generic metallic beige instead of being green or blue or something good.
Yeeesss more color. Signed a guy with a Yellow Mustang & a Red pickup.
I want to know how the plethora of grey-greens and grey-blues that have recently been trendy are getting assigned. Sometimes they’re barely a color (looking at you, Ford Broncos in Cactus Grey and Area 51).
I’m not of fan of those color styles in general, but the ones Toyota has been offering on the Tacoma have frequently been fantastic. I think it’s less about them making a good color, but having a perfectly suited vehicle for it.
I am also curious how these get counted as there have been numerous blacks with heavy emerald/sapphire/ruby metallic flakes as well. I get that the base is still black or gray and thus boring but my neighbor’s S-class glows a deep ruby in direct sunlight, but every other time looks jet black.
https://www.autotrader.ca/offers/land-rover-range-rover-sport-rare-rare-veocity-blue-exterior-head-turner-gasoline-blue-cat_ma15641gr200833tr13981-b6222799-a86f-4d9c-b515-9e426f4fdec0?sort=standard&desc=0&position=3&source_otp=t10&source=listpage_search-results&order_bucket=unknown&boost_level=b3&applied_boost_level=b0&relevance_adjustment=organic&boosting_product=none
This one is a gorgeous blue. Someone tell me why I shouldn’t buy it.
“Someone tell me why I shouldn’t buy it.”
It’s right there in the ad: land-rover-range-rover
Until people stop buying cars for resale value and start buying them to be cars, transportation and enjoyment, they will continue to be white and greyscale.
I loathe white cars. People bitch about jeep wranglers but at least they come in fun colors. I have a crush orange one that I love.
I hereby pledge to never buy a new car in a bland color. Used cars I’m kinda at the whim of the market, but new there will be no gray, white, black, or beige purchases. Unless my wife wants to wrap it in a non-offered color.
Don’t know what happened to orange cars. Not as “look at me” as yellow (sorry, Jason) but still draws the eye. Even a non-performance car can look good in orange.
Jeep wrangler has Joose and Goldilocks (more gold but that is kinda like orange)
“You know what I mean, the brutal grayscale horde”
You know it’s bad when an automaker releases a new, different kind of grey like Honda’s Sonic Grey and Toyota’s Moonstone and it suddenly becomes the rage.
Never liked yellow all that much but I’m still happy to see it vs another grayscale.
Toyota, for all its mechanical blandness, has been putting out some nice colors. Cavalry and Heritage blues. That metallic copper brown on the Crown Signia in. The emerald green you can get on a cheapo Corolla cross. The Copper Crest on the Lexus RX is a bit over the top, way too much pink in it, but still better than another grey.
.
Thanks Jason.
Everyone loves a good color commentator.
(That’s a sportsball joke in case you didn’t know, hehe).
I like colour. My first motorcycle was lime green, and I replaced that with a combination of lime green and purple. My latest bike only came in a choice of bright red or matte black, and I didn’t for a second consider the black.
But I like my cars grey. I can’t imagine my dream OG NSX and FD RX7 in any colour other than silver. My dream Skyline is a gunmetal R32 GTS-t. I had loads of choices for my GT86, but drove nearly to France to buy my grey one.
I’ve had cars in colours, bright red, yellow, green and white. That was just my MX5 (which I then painted black/bare carbon fibre). I’ve had other cars painted single colours, blues, greens, reds. But I’d have been happier with grey or silver in every case.
Yes more colors!!!! Yellow rules!!!!!
I refuse to buy another monochromatic car again. The only ones I’ve bought in the past have either been used, where the options and condition matter more than the color to me, or new but off the lot, where the dealer made the color decisions for me based on what they ordered.
I’m at the point in my life now though where I have options and I chose to use them to support the rainbow!
I bought my 2026 Prius PHEV used and so it’s silver (Cutting Edge in Toyotaese). I was looking at a blue one but it sold before I could get a chance to drive 2 hours away to view it.
Then I looked at a red one after driving 2 hours but that dealer was mega sketchy claiming they had sold it the previous night in an online auction but would be willing to sell it to me for the winning bid price (which matches the price listed on Autotrader). But wait there’s more, they then added $2,000 worth of dealer add-ons including some Temu LoJack that they were unwilling to negotiate on. So I walked.
I ended up buying from out of state and having the car trucked here; apparently Tennessee is a Prius PHEV free zone as 2 hours was the closest I could find new or used. If I had bought new, it would have been between the red and the yellow.
My co-worker taunted me a little for buying a silver car after complaining previously how all the cars are grey and silver. My Miata is silver as well; also purchased used. The used market is a colorless dystopia. Makes me thing of the video game De Blob where the inkies are stealing all the color.
Hard to get the color you want when buying used. My Fiesta ST is metallic orange. Our 4Runner is Barcelona Red. Our Lexus GS is…
grey
Because they all are. The factory would paint them in a stunning metallic red very similar to Mazda’s Soul Red but no one bought them. In the decade since the 4th gen GS was facelifted I’ve seen a total of 2 red ones. Got tired of waiting. Bought a damned grey one.
When I was searching for my used CX-5, the main requirement was that it had to be red or one of the 2 blue choices. I got the dark blue.My next vehicle will likely be a Maverick. There’s a gorgeous green in the current palette.
I’m doing my part as all my cars have been a color. Current truck is red and my jeep is green. My wife and daughter not so much. My wife always has black cars but went with a white one on the latest and my daughter has only had black.
I just bought a new red car. There was a nice teal, but I really wanted green but unfortunately green wasn’t offered. That teal was almost impossible to find.
Previous car was green.
Cars before that were all boring because lack of good colors. Grey/silver with non-metallic grey before that.
All of my normal cars are boring but I have a neon green race car and I plan to wrap my Ford Durango in burnt orange with retro graphics just for the fun of it.