Every year, the design industry struggles to determine what the color trends of the future will be. The automobile industry is no exception, in which certain nuances have established themselves in the collective imagination.
The history of the automobile is full of characteristic colors, from the yellow of the Renault 5 to Ferrari red, including Alpine blue or legendary racing liveries like that of Gulf on the Ford GT40 which won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1969. But today, the predominant tones in the market are gray (29%), white (27%) and black (27%), according to an analysis of Carvertical listings.
Red, one of the perennial vehicle colors, took an 11% share. One of the interesting aspects of this study is to see the evolution of trends: seven years ago, white represented 67% of purchases and black barely 9%.
For the designer Couleurs et Matières DS, Noémie Cortizas, the fact that there is a monochromatic predominance is not necessarily a negative thing. “There are many shades of white and you can do very interesting things with volumes.”
For the designer, who has been working at Stellantis for a year, “trends are cyclical, but not that much”. While it is true that 10 years ago it was more common to see colors with a matte finish, these have given way to metallic paints that sparkle in the sun. There are brands, like Fiat, which make color their identity, even going so far as to state that “they will never make a gray car”.
“Even today, bright colors are not the same as they were 15 years ago,” says Cortizas. “At DS we try every year to introduce something innovative, whether it’s colors or materials that hadn’t been used before or, if they had been used before, we innovate in the way to work with.”
This trend is replicated by virtually every manufacturer, who create an introductory color for each model – and some only offer certain shades for a limited time, such as an update or the first year.
According to the Seat Color and Interior design team, the widespread use of white has a clear explanation: “technology brands associate this color with their most innovative products. “Years ago it was a solid, no-effect finish associated with refrigerators, but now you find it on the market with metallic effects and pigments that give the car that image of technology and precision.”
For Cupra, “exterior colors are always combined with copper, and we create desaturated tones with metallic effects, depth, a liquid effect, both in glossy and matte finishes. We’re a brand without a legacy, so we can afford to test and change with more agility than other brands. “Time will tell if we end up generating a color code as an identifying tone for the brand.”
In DS, textures also play a major role, notably the use given to them by French haute couture houses. A clear example was the presentation of the DS9 sedan at Paris Fashion Week, which contained gold glitter particles and pearl particles to present an iridescent effect.
These shiny finishes are easy to find in current models, such as the Lexus RX – which opts for a copper color – or the Alfa Romeo – which adapted one of its historic blues to 2024 with the new Junior. A returning trend for high-end cars is two-tone combinations, dating back partly to classic models of the 1920s, and partly to camouflage the vehicles’ large dimensions. Examples are the Mercedes-Benz Maybach SUV or the BMW 7 Series.
Other brands, however, have opted for humor when it comes to paint names. Knowing that brands like Porsche take themselves very seriously with shades like “Underberg green”, “voodoo blue” or “bahama yellow”, Volkswagen has opted, for its T-Cross, for names like “howling yellow”, “ bluish blue.” » or “beige”.
Design process
Visual language – and therefore color – is one of the first decisions made when designing a car. The first thing the designers prepare is a trend forecast – ‘trends Forecast’ in English -, which is based on consumption habits and what is observed on social networks, to determine the theme of the collection.
“Once determined,” explains Cortizas, “we present the thematic universes to the relevant departments: Marketing, Product, Sales… and a final decision is made.”
Virtual reality marked a milestone for automotive designers. Thanks to a program adapted to the development of video games, the 150 Porsche employees at the Weissach center use this system to calibrate both the air or fluid flows on the surfaces as well as their external appearance. In fact, the Color and Interiors team is responsible for digitizing, using a scanner, the visual properties of all materials and storing them in a specific database, whether it is glass, aluminum or velvet. The results are then projected onto a 16.5 meter screen.
Even though they have to go through the approval of several departments, Noemí Cortizas believes that “our work is not limited” and that there is still room for creativity.
