The world of car color is often so boring. Look at any photo of a modern highway, and it’s a sea of grays, blacks, and variations of white. Maybe you might see a dull red or blue breaking up the gray, but that’s about it. You will almost never see a candy green, hot pink, or eye-searing yellow on a normal car. What color would you love to see on a regular car this year?
In decades past, automakers weren’t afraid to paint their cars in bold, beautiful colors. Americans weren’t afraid to buy cars painted in those colors, either. Today, you can buy jewelry made from formations of old car paint that accumulated on top of itself in the paint booth, called “Fordite.” I love Fordite because, depending on the era in which the material was made, you can see the sorts of vibrant colors that represented certain periods, be it earthy tones, metallics, or pastels.
If you were to make Fordite out of today’s car colors, you would probably be disappointed. There are lots of metallic colors out there, but few that really pop. In recent history, bold colors were usually reserved for the cheapest cars and the most expensive cars. Sure, a Chevy Aveo might not have been super fun to drive, but it did come in great colors!
Sadly, even cheap cars are becoming so gray, leaving only a few special holdouts and lots of expensive cars that aren’t afraid to display some color proudly. That’s a shame. If I were in charge of an automaker, and I’m glad I’m not because that sounds scary, I’d offer every car in my lineup with bold colors.
Do you want a minivan that’s purple with metal flake? Sure, I dig that! How about a hot pink luxury SUV? You rock your Pepto-loving self! Instead, you usually have to buy something like this Corvette or the Shelby in the topshot to get the spice:
Here is what my colleague, Thomas, thinks:
The time is right for yellow to make a comeback. Since trends work in 20-year cycles, just imagine the nostalgia for a yellow GMC Hummer EV, or a yellow Lamborghini Temerario, or even Porsche adding Speed Yellow back to the regular color palette. The Corvette is ahead of the curve on this, as it was available once again in a proper yellow starting in 2025. We have enough highlighter yellow-greens, it’s time to properly let the sun in.Beyond that, mother-effin flip paints. Dark hues and demure neutrals are so five years ago, maximalist excess is in. Give me off-the-chain pearlescents, give me ChromaFlair, give me paint jobs louder than one of Don Cherry’s suits. Can it be tacky? Sure, but who said that questionable taste could never be cool?
I have said this in the past, but don’t be afraid to express yourself. If you like bright colors, go ahead and rock those colors! Make the world a little bit less gray. Sadly, this doesn’t help right now because unless you’re buying a GMC Hummer EV, a Porsche, or a Corvette, you’re usually stuck with boring colors. But a wrap can solve that. What colors would you love to see on normal cars?
Top graphic image: Shelby American
My favorite is 2010 Mustang one year only Sunset Gold Metallic.
Excellent call. Ford offered it on a few other models too (F-150 and Focus at the very least), and it’s striking in person – retro but also contemporary.
Porsche Miami blue and PTS color yacht blue
Literally any vibrant and fun colors. I personally love vibrant metallic blues and purples as well as greens. My 96 Civic is Midori Green Pearl and while not a wild color, it’s still fun and stands out. My current 2016 Honda HR-V daily is the nice bright Milano Red which isn’t my favorite color, but it’s nice that it isn’t white, black, silver/gray, burgundy, or beige/gold. It’s sad how easy it is to spot my car in a parking lot.
At one point I almost bought a 10th Gen Civic Coupe in that crazy neon green they had. I was utterly amazed Honda ever offered that color.
Whatever magic Mazda is doing with their amazing red paint should be applied to an aged coppery / bronzy/ / brassy color and also to a deep “British racing green”. (I believe that the magic is that they’re painted black, but then a red pearl is applied before the clear coat which is why it’s deep red in the right light but muted in others)
There was a story on it (or partially on it) here, maybe a year ago? Or two. I wish I had clipped and saved it. The formula was something complex, and I think involved black flake. The best I remember is primer, then red with black flake, then either clear (possibly with pearl) or red with pearl, then red with metal flake, then clearcoat. Something at least partially like that.
And I agree, Mazda’s Soul Red is fantastic. Even dirty on a cloudy day it looks great, and in full sun or parked under a streetlight at night it glows and shines just so nicely. I can spot it blocks away. I’ve seen a Ford color that looks like it is trying to copy it, and it gets somewhat close, but it isn’t there yet. Not quite the same hue, and not as much depth.
First time I saw it was on a Mazda6 under the lights at the NY auto show, and it was stunning. Looked on par with any of the concept/show cars.
:edit: Found it! not as complicated as I thought, but the flake layer has both dark and metallic flake together. Article includes a graphic.
https://www.theautopian.com/mazda-got-toyotas-hybrid-system-did-toyota-get-mazdas-best-color-in-exchange/
Soul Red is amazing and then they followed it up with Soul Red Crystal Metallic that somehow looks even more amazing. Their new Deep Crystal Blue Mica is a nice color on the Miata too.
Blazing Copper needs to make a comeback.
The higher trims of the CX-50 are offered in a nice dark green and the CX-70 has an interesting “melting copper” color just like you’re describing. Imagine how great a Miata would look in either one of these colors!
Stellantis already does a decent job of offering a range of colours, but I want to see Jeep bring back the khaki or green seats (with the seatback pockets!) on the Wrangler Sahara. If nothing else, 2028 will be the Sahara’s 40th anniversary, and basic black is so boring
Purples
I wish cars didn’t need clear coat… they look like they’re wrapped in cellophane. Give me some nice deep colors that aren’t metallic.
I do like the blue on the new Nissan Leaf.
It would be nice if it were available without the black roof, either as a solid color or maybe with a white roof.
I like how the little British cars had colors that looked like M&Ms or Crayolas when they were all parked at a dealership. Red, yellow, orange, blue, green, even those beige & brown colors…
50s cars in coral and ivory are awfully pretty.
I talked my husband out of getting our Hummer H2 in yellow. I was wrong.
At this point beggars can’t be choosers.
I’d love to see more non-metallic paint colors in general. Pastels are great and frankly are timeless!
I’d like to see colours be a no cost option. Part of the reason you never see colours on cars now is they are often kept behind an exorbitant paywall.
Then the manufacturer removes the options because no one is buying them.
White paint is also apparently hard to get right.
Teal!! The world needs more teal cars. Purple is also fantastic, but really just any bright color and I’m happy.
You could get the previous generation Toyota CH-R in teal and it makes me happy every time I see one.
I love when cheap cars are offered in fun colors. Chevy seems to have picked up that torch now as I see all sorts of awesome colors on the Trax lately.
Remember when every other car in the 90s was teal? Good days
It was a better time in so many ways.
Red.
I miss the emerald, green that Dodge had on their pickups. That was a beautiful color.
Kia K4 Hatch yellow all the way (though I heard on the press event it looked splotchy?)
The new Bolt has some bright color options. I usually have been stuck with boring colors because it’s what is available, but I always go for a color if I have the option. I finally have some good colors in the fleet. Soul Red, Winning Blue, Portimao Blue. I have Grey Ghost on the Bolt, but that at least looks slightly purple in the right light. And we have our old STS in Thunder Grey Chromaflair.
The previous Bolt came in a neon yellowish green color, like a tennis ball. And aqua too. Too bad that white dash trim looked like bad shelf liner.
I have a diecast early Bolt in yellow-orange.
Really bright but deep green.
Not the kind that looks like black until you get up close.
No, I’m thinking more like John Deere green, but metallic.
Did any of the Bullitt Mustangs come close to it? Mid sixties Corvettes came in metallic green but maybe too dark. I don’t think BMW did a good job with green in the 90s. There’s probably a pretty green with Aston Martin.
I don’t know the exact name, but I always think of it as “Ford Euro Blue.”
It’s that non-metallic royal blue that was a fixture on Ford’s offerings in Europe in the 80s and 90s, seen by us stateside mostly in magazines, but wow did it make monochrome trim and wheels of the era pop perfectly.
Blue. I want to see truly great blues. Not the “almost as dark as black” blue, but bright stuff like that Mustang. Or something really sparkling focused on blue instead of red.
Safety yellow. Makes school bus yellow look orange.
Oh man I would really love for teal to make a comeback.
It used to be everywhere. From Ford Escorts to Chevy 3500s to Geo Trackers, teal was gorgeous on any vehicle it was laid on.
Closest we got in recent years is Jeep’s Bikini color, which, while gorgeous, was a bit too heavy on the blue, and while that color looked amazing on a Jeep, it really would have improved so many cars. I’ll ignore the obvious ones like the Supra or the Mustang, think of something like a Genesis SUV draped in that color. It would just work so well.
Red. I’d like to see red cars again.
But I would really love to see the old bright GM Yellow or Nissan Orange.
All of my cars have been bright red or blue, so I am fully onboard with this. I would love to see more deep, metallic greens and blues available, for instance.
But it’s not just a matter of paint hues…some cars out there only offer three colors to choose from, which is ridiculous. Take the Golf R, for example: There’s a very pretty metallic blue, but if you want something else your options are black and grey. Yawn.
Orange.
And not burnt orange. Like ORANGE orange.
This. Orange needs to make a return. Any and all shades of orange would be a welcome change from black, white, and infinite shades of grey.
Yes! My first car was orange.
My parents had two orange cars (not at the same time) when I was a kid. They’re fun.
My mom once owned an orange Pinto hathback. I was thrilled to find that out…talk about making lemonade out of lemons.
Over the past year, I’ve noticed quite a few orange cars. Like one day I remember saying ‘there’s another orange car’ about 5 times in the course of a few hours. Probably more so because it’s such a noticeable color, but it may be a minor trend.
I’m all for it! But I think most were more on the rust end of orange. Bring back Saab Sunset Orange!
#1 Baby blue. Growing up with a s10 in that color does that to you.
#2 purple, you don’t see purple very often, especially bright purple.
Purple is a good one. Having formerly owned a purple vehicle, I support it.
The baby blue heritage hue available on the Bronco Sport is indeed sharp. It’s a great truck color.
Bronco Sport, Bronco Heritage, Maverick, it should be offered on all Fords!
I might have gotten a F-150 Raptor over the Ram 1500 I ordered if I could have gotten the Raptor in that baby blue.
I second purple, it’s an underrepresented color in the automotive realm.
I almost bought a 95 S10 in that color a few days ago. Great color even if it was badly faded on this one.