Beating that Ol' Dead Horse - Color

[iamsuperdan]

19 hours ago, tim boyd said:

Dan speaketh the truth here. 

I was always a strong advocate for brighter (and in some cases, repeats of heritage) colors in my career at Ford.  But the truth was that silvers, grays, and whites were almost always the fastest sellers while the more expressive colors tended to sit on the dealer lots waiting for the one buyer who appreciated something different (with the dealer paying monthly floor plan expense in the meantime).  At the assembly plant, colors with a low sales mix added complexity and complicated the loading/flow through the paint booth.  All of which help to explain why they are so uncommon.  Of course, for cars like the Mustang, brighter colors were/are a lot more viable as a product offering.  But not so for most mainstream cars and SUVs/CUVs.    

For my 2024 Mustang GT, I had to order the car well before the color swatches were available to view.  I have always like bright blues, so I ordered a new color called "Vapor Blue" (Whisper Blue on Lincolns).   When I finally saw the color palette, Vapor Blue was in reality a medium blue gray with pearlized/metallic clearcoat.  I don't like it at all.  But it is the 100% thing people first comment on when they see the car, and everybody (and I mean EVERYBODY) loves the color. Go figure.   

Interestingly enough, and while I can hardly believe I am saying this, on a future 2025 car I just ordered last week (not a Mustang) that I will take delivery of sometime late summer, Silver has been dropped from the color palette.  First time in what, 30 or 40 years?   Maybe there is hope  for some of us who prefer more expressive colors after all.  TB 

I really like Vapor Blue, but I'm confident that I would not order it for myself. You're right though, people LOVE this colour. It gets so many comments, and I haven't heard anyone say anything negative about it yet.

 

We have a Dark Horse that just arrived yesterday. Spec'd out by the client and factory ordered. It's dark grey.

 

[Spottedlaurel]

I thought of this thread today when I saw a 2023 Mercedes CLA wagon/tourer, not normally something that would interest me but it was a bright, almost turquoise, metallic blue - just looked online and it's Hyper Blue. Definitely one to consider on a future build...