We all love a good graphic. From the liveries of the Need For Speed: Most Wanted BMW M3 GTR and the Toyota Supra from The Fast and the Furious to the walls of text on JDM Mitsubishi Delicas and Toyota MR2s, to parts store catalog stripes, a bit of personalization adds character. Unfortunately, the art of graphics seemed to go underground for decades, rarely seen on production cars outside of a handful of performance models. Quietly, that’s been changing as of late. Graphics might actually be making a comeback, and the new Toyota RAV4 offers yet another sign.
It might seem like a strange concept to someone who’s grown up seeing the vast majority of cars painted shades of grey, but there used to be a time when stripes, swooshes, and stickers ruled the roost. When painting a car in an actual hue wasn’t enough to stand out, just on its own. Graphics used to be huge, then they disappeared.
I’m not just talking about Fast & Furious-era tribals and wild tuner liveries, either. Thirty years ago, the popularity of Corporate Memphis design meant that it wasn’t uncommon to see a teal Geo Tracker, a magenta Ford Escort, or even a blue Mazda MPV with some sort of sticker down the side. It’s a style that quickly disappeared in the 2000s, although graphics might be making a comeback.
Obviously, a few select serious off-roaders like the Ford F-150 Raptor have rocked graphics for a while, but the first sign of sticker packs making it back into the mainstream might’ve been the 2024 Ford Bronco Sport Free Wheeling edition with its homage-paying reflective gradated striping. Not only did this treatment make a statement, it showed up on the unibody crossover before it arrived on the big body-on-frame Bronco.
That could’ve been an outlier, but then Mitsubishi dropped this gem as an option on the Outlander Trail Edition. Yeah, that’s a stripe leading to a stylized mountain range. It’s extremely Sorel-coded, a stylistic update of something you might’ve seen on a ’90s 4×4, yet it kind of fits perfectly. The public has spoken, and they want crossovers wearing Otterboxes of cladding.
Mind you, not every crossover graphic is quite so bold. Take the hood decal setup on the Mazda CX-50 Meridian. It’s subtle, but it’s more than just a slab of satin black vinyl. Sure, there are two little contoured stripes to accent the middle bit, but also glossy inlays including the name of the car.
Which brings us neatly on to the new Toyota RAV4. You know, the world’s best-selling car. Even on the accessory side, you’d expect Toyota to largely play it safe. However, now that the configurator’s out, Toyota’s revealed three graphics packages for the popular crossover. The first consists of segmented lower door stripes and accents around the fog light grilles in grey or black, the second combines the door stripes with equally-strobing stripes down each side of the hood, and the top banana $600 package simply combines everything.
It goes without saying, these are some of the boldest OEM graphics of the modern crossover era, so the fact that Toyota’s offering them is pretty cool. More importantly, it points to a pattern. If one manufacturer was making graphics happen, it would be a fluke. If two were, it would be a coincidence. Three or more? Well, while graphics are still niche, something’s going on here. Vinyls aren’t dead yet, and there’s something pleasing about that.
Top graphic image: Toyota
I mean certain versions of Suburu’s have been doing outdoorsy graphics for a while, but they are subdued like the Mitsubishi one.
I love graphics, but I like the in the face ones like the Bronco or TRD Toyota’s. I miss those sorts of graphics on truck, SUV’s and cars.
For the most part, gross. That crap was tacky back then, it is still tacky now. I do make exception for the “Heritage Edition” Fords. They managed to do it tastefully.
How about bringing back actual colors instead? I miss the days when a parking lot from the air looked like a spilled bag of Skittles, and not a depressing grayscale scene.
You think my Pinto Custom Cruising Wagon is gross and tacky?
*sobs quietly*
Yes, yes I do. Here, have a <hug>. 🙂
But I think a Pinto van with porthole windows is gross and tacky even without the graphics.
I have OEM 70s-style stripes down the sides of my car towards the rockers, which it honestly needed because otherwise it’s a bit slab-sided. It needed it to break it up.
Everyone at car shows love it, and all agree it looks way better for it. Not a few people, but the majority of them. Same with the OEM amber side indicators instead of doing Euro clear, because it needs that extra pop of color.
It doesn’t work on all cars nor all colors, but on some it’s screamingly obvious.
Good.
I think mainstream graphics went away (not talking about F&F or NFS cars here) as so many cars became curvy blobs throughout the 2000s and there were fewer and fewer defining features and body lines on the cars to anchor the graphics to.
With the return to more angular and boxy-looking CUVs and SUVs, I think it’s easier to pull off, but that RAV4 still isn’t doing it for me. The CX-50 one looks kind of neat though.
My DeLorean has an original dealer-installed black stripe down each side with the DMC logo, and it totally works with the angles and lines of the car.
Ehhhh, not doing much for me.
Maybe a couple more subtle accent colors like if the gt side stripe like the first couple generations of mustangs come back.
I’d much prefer a few more color options in general than 4 shades of gray, black, and white being offered on every car.
My brain has fixated on tape stripes. I need tape stripes. I need three-color tape stripes. I just need to decide on what ones and find an indoor space to install them.
I’m restoring a 1979 Ford Durango and when I’m done with it I fully plan to do some kind of retro graphic scheme just for the fun of it. All of my other cars are boring white and grey.
Yeah nah. If I saw that Rav4 on the road I would think someone went shopping on Aliexpress.
Graphics just don’t translate on newer cars 99% of the time. The throwback stickers on the Bronco don’t even look right. Back in the day a 16V DOHC TURBO decal advertised something hi-tech for the day, and also fit in on the bodystyles of the 80’s. Today it just looks like some cringey wannabe Transformers Pep Boys nonsense. Sorry, but I’m not digging it.
I’m cyncial this time of year. Seeing this just makes me think of a dealer surcharge to have them removed after they have already been installed and it’s the only option on the lot.
“Corporate Memphis” sounds like slang for “Bought it at Autozone”
Because their HQ is in Memphis?
*crickets*
I like the idea of more graphics, I just don’t like the ghosting of the paint. My SIL has a very nice RX350 that the previous owner thought need a tribal tramp stamp on the hatch for some reason. Mint condition except when the sun hits it just right…
YES! Cars have gotten so serious looking and drab in color palettes and overall styling. Grayscale, angry headlights and sharp edgy body lines. Anything that brings back some whimsy and color is a good thing, even if some executions aren’t to my taste. I really hope Toyota vintage TRD graphics packages.
It is time. All the pieces are there:
-The people crave small, cheap, proper 4x4s
-The CAMI plant needs a model to save it’s production
-Vinyl graphics are back
THE GEO TRACKER MUST RISE FROM THE ASHES.
It’d be a Jimny Christmas if that were to be announced in the next week.
Maybe, just maybe, people finally want some color back in their lives. Let’s just eaaaaaaaaaaase ourselves into it. It’ll be okay. One little vinyl sticker at a time.
To be fair, the sticker IS grey…. 😀
Gotta start somewhere!
Just in time for all the Semiquincentennial Edition tape stripe packages
Gross. After 200 focus groups, MBA’s, and C Suite folks get a look at it they will all be grey in color and look like something from the 70’s…. Not that I don’t like the look of those packages from back then, they just don’t translate…
Yes, but, they could be going SOOOO much harder. They are still too tame. Especially anything that is just on the hood.
Gotta start somewhere.
I just want to know why this is the comeback, and not the like two dozen various graphics packages Jeep has offered on the Wrangler over the past nearly two decades. Or the graphics on Raptors. Or the graphics on TRX/RHN. Or the Boss 302 stripes. Or the various stripes on Challengers trims. Or GT3RS graphics. Or…