What happened to color?

[ShadowsPapa]

I own a grey Gladiator but it sure doesn't look like it just pulled up to read your gas meter. I see tons of white trucks, and it automatically makes me think that the driver is a work site supervisor, or works construction. Seems like those guys are in love with white trucks.

It goes with any company color scheme, is cheaper for the truck maker (white fleet - giving color choices would raise fleet prices).
Imagine going in and wanting 25 new trucks - Ford has 'em ready to go in your color and the color is cheaper - because it's white.
Smaller companies around here sometimes buy color - but any company with more than a couple of trucks, it's typically white.

But you can always tell the county trucks here........... you guessed it.....

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[foo.c]

Fleet sales, which Ford does a lot of - white trucks.



But that's millions on a national basis.
About the only thing here that sells that's yellow is............. Wrangler.
Not sure how yellow would hold value better if people don't like yellow cars. You don't see yellow cars.
Even in the late 70s you could find last model year vehicles sitting on the lot if you wanted yellow.
When my white AMX got totaled, I went around to all of the dealers in central Iowa - I was looking in 1978 for a 1977 model year. All that was left on the lots were yellow - they simply didn't sell. I ended up finding a red one a ways away from me, there wasn't a white one to be found anywhere.
Speculation - based on other items -
Maybe their bit on "resale value" is because there are so very few of them out there that if you want a yellow one, you'll pay more?
It's like certain home styles - if there's a demand and no supply, the price goes up. That's my guess for yellow here. If you want a yellow vehicle - good luck! If you find one you'll be willing to pay more.
Anyway, they didn't seem to break that down to region - it's millions, likely over the whole country. So while it may be in the east or the west parts of the country, where millions more are sold - it's possible, even likely, yellow won't get you a higher price here.

My wife would have paid a premium for a purple Grand Cherokee. She even asked dealers what it would cost to get one in purple. When asked what her top 3 color choices were - all three were purple, purple and purple, in that order. When I told her the cost to paint a vehicle and that changing color was a lot more expensive due to the door openings, and other areas, she backed down. My bet if the factory would have done her a WK2 in purple, she'd have paid another 5 grand to get it.

Yes, I think it's the low production. The article doesn't/can't explain why but it seems like a good guess.

I will say it had nothing to do with my color choice on the C8, I just thought it looked awesome and has long been associated with the factory Corvette racing team, someone posted it on another car forum and I thought it was interesting.

 

[balucipher]

I ordered a Maverick in Cyber Orange and my Gladiator is Sarge Green

I'm doing my part to fight boring colors all over South Florida roads

 

[Jefe1018]

Man, y’all gonna hate it when my Gladiator comes in…

I like hydro blue, wife doesn’t.
I like snazzberry, wife is concerned with pinstriping.

So white it was, I’m just happy to be here.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Yes, I think it's the low production. The article doesn't/can't explain why but it seems like a good guess.

I will say it had nothing to do with my color choice on the C8, I just thought it looked awesome and has long been associated with the factory Corvette racing team, someone posted it on another car forum and I thought it was interesting.

My wife has always liked the Wrangler body style in yellow.. A co-worker of hers in the 90s had one and my wife always liked the way that Jeep looked in Yellow.
Of course, there's various yellows, too. Some I'd have in a heartbeat, some look too much like baby poop. (any father knows those colors)
IMO, Jeep has done well with their yellows.

 

[foo.c]

My wife has always liked the Wrangler body style in yellow.. A co-worker of hers in the 90s had one and my wife always liked the way that Jeep looked in Yellow.
Of course, there's various yellows, too. Some I'd have in a heartbeat, some look too much like baby poop. (any father knows those colors)
IMO, Jeep has done well with their yellows.

I think that's called Hella Yella, I like it. Have only seen one in person.

The only Wrangler color I ever recall disliking was the baby poop green color they had on the JK for a while.

 

[ShadowsPapa]

Man, y’all gonna hate it when my Gladiator comes in…

I like hydro blue, wife doesn’t.
I like snazzberry, wife is concerned with pinstriping.

So white it was, I’m just happy to be here.

When I was looking to buy a truck in 2011 - I had it all figured out as far as type, equipment and so on, then knowing my wife (who had given me ORDERS - NO red, no white, no black, no gray/silver) it was like - great, NOW what???????
So I went home and took her back to the lot with me. As we drove into the lot we passed one truck that had color - And guess which one she wanted me to get.
Problem - that was a special color only available in a specific package and that package didn't have the equipment I wanted.
The dealer searched the entire midwest, nothing. So - since they wanted my trade really bad (not one of those sales person things, they really DID want it and it was sold before I left) they bought the stuff and equipped it as I wanted with factory parts.

I had the Gladiator all figured out - until my wife got involved. Orange was close, she wanted PURPLE and even offered the sales guy another check if they'd get me one in purple. No luck. If snazzberry had been offered then - maybe, but she still loves the blue although last time she saw a firecracker red one, she said it was "pretty".
Anyway, instead of a Sport loaded up, we got a blue Overland because she insisted on color matching fenders and roof. And even the sales staff liked the blue that way so she won out in the end.

 

[texanjeeper]

I love my Granite Gladiator, but if Snazzberry had been available when I bought my truck, I would have had to evoke executive override on that one.

 

[Murgatroid]

I complain about this to my wife all the time. I refuse to buy white, black or grey cars.

One of the best things toyota has going for them is the cool colors available on the tacoma/tundra models.

Love that bright light blue I've seen on some Toyota's.

 

[MPMB]

White is used for fleet vehicles for a number of reasons.

1. Cheap
2. Any company can use it, and later sell it to another company
3. Many fleets are actually leased, not company owned
4. Age of vehicles in fleet look the same
5. Graphics-friendly (and after removed)
6. Repairs are cheaper - junkyard parts, no color-matching a sun-faded blue or yellow
7. Gov't issue - everyone's the same
8. Visible but not "obnoxious" for safety
9. White tends to look less abused than other colors. You can always pick out the dents in a black truck pretty easily.
10. If the company fleet includes cars, box vans, semis, or other (different brands), it's easy to match white, compared to a color like red. Victory Red? Torch Red? Garnet Red? Tornado Red?

tl;dr: White's easy.

 

[maligator]

I feel like the F150 (and the other full sized trucks for that matter) are often commercial vehicles where white is the #1 choice... I guess to match the fleet?

That being said, in my work parking lot there are A LOT of silver/black/grey/dark blue fullsize trucks. And I don't really see many privately owned "fun colored" trucks, either.

Thats what I was thinking too, fleet vehicles.

I wondered how that became a thing and I found a dealer website that had some interesting points:

I used to work for a huge electrical contractor and all of our trucks were white but in 2012 we needed a bunch of new trucks and bought every work/low trim problably within 100 miles.

Everybody was bragging about the random feature or tire or color that was different or unique compared to everybody elses trucks lmao it was kind of funny.

For a bit I went from a white 1500 6.2 1500 basic truck to a nice truck with a good sound system and nice wheels but someone more important than me stole it and I got my old truck back lol. So problably keep things simple and the same to keep adult men from fighting like children over dual zone climate and fancy wheels and w/e seemed cool on each random truck.

https://www.carlblackoforlando.com/

• White is the cheapest pigment with which to outfit a vehicle.
• It’s easier to display graphics, such as logos or text, on a clear white background. Letters also look better on such a background.
• White is visible without being obnoxious, and objects in this color tend to look bigger, helping to increase safety.
• White fades less quickly over time than other hues. Among other benefits, this means that areas covered by decals won’t be as noticeably unfaded when the decals are removed.
• White reflects light, and thus, heat, keeping the vehicle and contents cool while saving on A/C use. This can, in turn, affect fuel efficiency.
• Because of its commonality, it’s easier to find work trucks in white, and thus easier to create a large fleet of white trucks. Other colors have more specific makeups and may be subtly different. While not every brand offers the same shade of red or black, they all offer the same white hue.

 

[Mabags]

This is an image of Ford pickups from the WSJ (probably F-150, it doesn't say) waiting partially completed in Kentucky for semiconductors and other currently scarce parts.

The shortage is one thing, but look at the sea of white in this photo. Even black and gray aren't that widespread (and contrast less with blacktop) and just a few reds and one yellow in the entire foreground.

What happened to color? Is everyone in the future going to drive around in the same white truck like we are all here to read the gas meter? Please Jeep, keep the fun colors coming.

For comparison look at the colors that were offered in the 70's and you could get interiors to match. If they could do it then, why can't they do it now? I love my punk'n glady and get many compliments on it. So why isn't it offered anymore?

 

[gouacats]

I'm not sure how up to date this article is, but it states that 77% of vehicles are white, black, grey or silver...

Most Popular Car Colors

 

[Dennis K]

This has been a trend well outside of any "downturn" and it's WORLD WIDE.
I was in Korea walking my grandson back to their apartment from his school. Suddenly he blurts out "look, a BLUE car!".

It's what people buy - like the putty pale boring colors on almost all houses these days. Heaven help you if you want COLOR on your house, the HA will rip you a new one and your neighbors will hate you.
Cars follow.
Not the economy. You can track this color - or lack of - trend to years when things were going well.
I liken it more to a "follow Europe" or "follow Asia" thing.

(IF you are going for safety - here's a quote -
We've referenced the safest color car on the road. That color is white. White cars are 12 percent less likely to be involved in an accident than black cars at any time of the day under any conditions.)

I have a number of pictures showing Korean streets, and their economy has been good. It's just how things are these days. White is the overwhelming majority, silver, gray, and black. I've got pictures where there's not a single black car in the scene - they are all white, silver or gray.
You don't see red, blue and yellow are rare.



Yup - see my quote above. White is common in Asian countries, and it's safe.

And yet I never had more people pull out in front of me than in my RAM 1500 in bright white... Go figure...

 

[ShadowsPapa]

And yet I never had more people pull out in front of me than in my RAM 1500 in bright white... Go figure...

Ironic, really.

I always thought my having a big F250 4x4 in RED years ago might make people notice, but fools will be fools.
My truck had been run into and hit at least 3 or 4 times by the time I traded it and yet there was very little sign of damage other than a minor dent in the right fender - that was caused by a women in a Hyundai deciding she wanted to change lanes - while I was RIGHT NEXT TO HER. My truck rippled the entire side of her car and yet there was only a minor ding to my fender, which I never fixed. (I just cashed the check from her insurance company)

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