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
What colors do I want to see? I dunno, but I can damn sure tell you what I don’t want to see. Black, white, silver, any shade of grey. The highways, byways and streets of America are almost a black and white photograph. So I don’t know what colors I would like to see, but give us bright, cheerful options.
GREEN. BRING ME THE GREEN. Emeralds and forest greens and olives and all of it.
I also dig plum. Egg yoke. Teals. Really, any other blue than the weird neon blue that seems so prevalent now (which I don’t have an issue with, it’s just a little overdone as the ONLY color available that isn’t red) and of course my nemesis, blues that are so dull and neutral that they’re closer to gray than anything. Bring back deep blues!
At this rate I’d be happy to see anything that isn’t grayscale.
British racing green
Highlander green (Ford did this recently on the Mustang)
Forest green from the early-90’s Eddie Bauer Ford trucks
Two-tone red/white like the OBS Ford trucks
Mazda’s soul red is one of the best colors currently available and BMW’s Interlagos blue from the early 2000’s was excellent.
Green, teal, orange, pink, brown, purple.
1998 Toyota/Subaru dark green metallic.
Give me the Schwinn Stingray lineup, please. I want car lots to look like bags of skittles.
I’m having a little vuja-de on this QOTD. Wasn’t this asked in the recent past?
My response on car colors is always to open up the Saab color book for inspiration! So many varied colors.
My first Saabs were Cardinal Red and Aquamarine blue, so let’s start there and add in Sunset Orange and Monte Carlo Yellow. Throw in Scarabe Green, and Nocturne Blue and you’ve got almost the whole rainbow.
I don’t recall Saab having a purple but there might have been a blue that was close.
MG had several purples… black tulip, aconite (also quite dark), and mirage (which was a pastel lavender mauve color.)
I love the SAAB colors, but you do have to admit that the 900 turbo three door does look best in black.
In 1988, Saab had Sandstone, a sort of brownish purple.
I bought a 9000 off the lot at night, thinking that the color really was sort of beige, influenced by the lights. Picking up the car in the daylight, I was so shocked that I made the dealer confirm it was the same car. In any case, I grew very fond of the unique “burple” color. And it wasn’t until much later, on road trips through the southwest, that I really understood where they got the name for the color.
A lot of people are saying purple, which I agree with. Specifically that ‘90s purple that was on everything. Also Ford needs to bring back “Island Blue Metallic” the one that looks teal-ish during the day and forest green at night.
One bright spot in the world of automotive colors, I’m glad automakers never gave up on red. There are still a lot of good reds out there.
Split the difference… sometimes a burgundy is nice too. Jaguar and Mercedes had deep reds that were not metallic, just rich looking on a sedan. The Impala SS remake looked good in plum, as did the PT Cruiser and the Plymouth Prowler.
I want 70s car paint color choices. All the colors, with acid trip names.
One of the low-key cool things about the recent Chargers was bringing back not only the wild 70s colors, but also their original names – go mango, top banana, plum crazy, etc.
Im no fan of Mopar, but I admit they do colors so good
Ink black, raven, obsidian, moonless night, jet, shadow and Adrian’s heart black.
So, darker than Vantablack?
Shadow only comes with red and white details. For The Edge(hog).
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Pretty sure most manufacturers already do this.
Some manufacturer should name their black “Poe”, or “Edgar”!
Once I have my own car company you can count on it.
Smell the Glove, none more black black, as it were.
What’s wrong with being sexy?
Safari fucking gold.
The colours children, the colours! I don’t care what they are, just give us cars in colour. And bring back decals. The new Land Cruiser should have a decal option to put the Toyota stripes down the side. Dodges and Mustangs should have stripe options. The 911 GT3 should have a big ‘GT3’ script over its haunches. Stop being boring!
As someone who owns two be-decaled (OEM) Fords, couldn’t agree more. Sure, some cars – Mercedes, etc. – no, but everyday stuff needs a little fun precisely b/c of its everydayness.
“What colors would you love to see on normal cars?’
All of them, all at once.
Bring back all the colors and let us choose.Traffic is just a depressing sea of Grey,Black, and White.
As a professional vehicle wrapper, I can assure you there are loads of color options that, when properly applied, are nearly indistinguishable from paint. VViViD, 3M, Avery Dennison and Fellers offer hundreds of color and finish options right off the roll that won’t impact your resale value like a painted custom color can. So go wild. change colors on a whim, the stuff is removable. A talented digital wrap shop can wrap you in imagery and graphics that will make you happy. You can get internally illuminated vinyls that glow, or go 70’s retro with laser holographic films, or get the go-to for Permian Basin redneck oil wealth by sporting a full CHROME wrap on your f450. Your entire ride in shiny chrome… money is meant to be spent.
As an old school trucker… WE RIDE TO VALHALLA SHINY AND CHROME!!!
I’m surprised that a pro is using VViViD wrap material. My son and I wrapped our roadracing car a few years ago in VViViD material that was approximately the color of Porsche’s Ultra Violet paint color from the GT3. After 3 years sitting outside in the southern California sun, the wrap had faded to gray and cracked all over the place. We ended up using the really big, multi-layered 3M eraser wheel to remove most of the wrap material, as it wouldn’t peel off any other way. I was utterly disappointed in the vvivid wrap material.
VVViViD is just one option as they have a large palette of color choices. I use 3M almost exclusively for durability. 3 years in SoCal sun is going to affect the wrap even with PPF over it.
Ya know, in some alternate universe, Ford is still selling cars in any color you want, as long as it’s black, and dealers are offering color by way of wraps.
Think of the cost savings over the entire lineup if there’s only one paint to apply. If the customer wants color, they can have it wrapped before they take delivery.
The world needs more purple cars. We may get a few: The lower-priced 2026 WRX will have Galaxy Purple Pearl as a regular production color!
BTW: My Boxster is currently being repainted in its original Ocean Blue. That’s a dark blue color with hints of green and purple, depending on lighting.
Have you seen the Jeep Wrangler purple. It is fantastic.
All the good colors have already been mentioned so I’ll go in a related direction. More two-tones and more colored interiors.
Also turquoise, eggplant, cerulean, and one of those deep dark blues.
Bring back silly factory decals and bold stripes.
* Metallic orange like the first gen Murano
* British racing green
* Mercedes petrol blue
* Purple. I don’t even care what shade
* Mazda red. Best red ever.
more yellow please yellow all the cars.
This comment section needs more GREEN.
Agreed. I listed two before seeing your post!
Emerald Green with some gold accent stripes.
Anything. Literally anything to break up the grayscale monotony would be nice.
I’d go for yellow, orange, orangey brown, actual red, and both light and bold blue available for every vehicle. And some non-falling-asleep greens. It would be nice ot look down the street at all the parked cars and it not look like depression car-sonified.
The Spark was available in really cool colors. Though the colors rotated every year, there was always something cool in the Spark’s color plaette 😀
Orange, gold, green, pink, purple, teal, yellow, all are lots of fun
The T32 Rogue was available in orange and a cool shade of gold too.
Corvette is dropping Hysteria Purple Metallic and Riptide Blue Metallic for 2027 due to low take rates. If people are not buying sports cars with wild colors, what chance do regular cars have?
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
I hate this. 🙁
This is a chance for another one-of-one corvette……