Global Colour Preferences Reveal Ford Customer Tastes

[russellw]

Despite an array of bright, vibrant car colours, many Ford customers in parts of the US and most European countries prefer the classic core colours – white, black, silver and grey.
In Australia Ford customers are generally very active and sportier and this is reflected in their colour choices, which include blues and intense citrus colours, while prestige buyers opt for richer metallics.

Colour preferences in Australia are shaped predominantly by two things – climate and culture, according to Ford Australia Colour and Materials Design Manager, Emily Lai.

"Our climate is bright and rich, making for an intensely coloured landscape," Lai said. "Australians also have a strong outdoors lifestyle and their high participation in sports from a young age means many people have a preference for more sporty, active colours."

With the sporty Ford Falcon XR range representing around 40 per cent of local Falcon volumes, there is a strong interest in bright colours – blues (Nitro) and citrus colours (Sunburst), plus darker cross-over colours (Edge and Silhouette) that are both sporty yet sophisticated.

Lai says Australia's healthy economy has created a strong desire and focus on up-to-the-minute fashion, which extends to the latest vehicle colours.

"To this end we have created highly successful, sophisticated colours ranging from a Champagne-inspired light metallic over grey, through to a mid-tone, rich Havana (warm Mocha) and dark fashion-inspired Edge (metallic gunmetal grey), which reflect architecture and our café society," she said.

"Like most large continents we see regional variations in colour trends.

"For example, in Sydney and Melbourne there is a preference for both the sporty colours for Falcon, along with very sophisticated metallics in rich and dark hues, while in the tropical north we see customers opting for lighter colours that reflect heat and provide a psychological perception of cool.

"Government and fleet buyers still prefer the more traditional colours of whites, silvers and blues – often to ensure consistent resale values or suit more traditional corporate identity liveries. However with the increasing uptake of novated leasing, employees are choosing their own vehicles and creating a demand for more personal colour choices, such as some of the darker hues like Edge (metallic gunmetal grey)."

Ford group's chief designer for Colour and Materials in the United States, Susan Swek, said there was also a trend toward core colours among North American customers.

"We strive within Ford to achieve the best black, silver, white and grey. We're always working to make them even more appealing," Swek said.

Paint, she said, was no different from clothing when it came to colour and style.

"The classics are continually upgraded – and always with a modern twist," Swek said. "In Europe, we've added tri-coat pearl technology to give grey-scale colours a glimmer. And in North America we are creating more tinted clear coats for a rich, luscious effect."

Global colour preferences are diverse. French and Italian motorists like cream-coloured vehicles, not a surprise given their café cultures. The Irish like silver. Customers in Denmark prefer black, while those in Belgium like grey.

In New York and Los Angeles, grey and silver are the most popular colours while San Franciscans like white and Bostonians like black.

Only one country in Europe has a top colour other than white, black or silver. The Czech Republic prefers blue.

Vehicle owners everywhere use colour choice to convey messages about themselves, according to Julie Francis, of the European Colour and Materials team.

"There is something very personal to buyers about the colour of their cars," Francis said. "When you look at the culture, you can see how fashion and other tastes influence the colours customers choose."

Almost 50 per cent of all vehicles sold in Turkey are white. Black is the colour of choice for most drivers in Norway, Portugal, Germany and Russia, whereas drivers in Ireland, Romania, Finland, Poland and Sweden chose silver more times than not.

"Red used to be, far and away, the most popular colour," the Marketing and Product Strategy manager for Ford of Europe, Vince Show, said. "White is in the ascendancy now. Dark greys, blacks and blues are popular, as they are in men or women’s clothing.”

"It's important to get the right colour into the market at the right time," Swek said. "Too early, and it won't have registered on customers' radar. Too late, and the popularity of a particular colour may have already reached its peak."

The latest colour findings are from Ford’s annual look at car buying preferences as well as an international colour study by Du Pont.

[chevypower]

I think different colors suit different cars too. Metallic bright green might look good on a Fiesta, but not a Navigator.

[kaniSS]

A lot of Nitro and Green FG's for sale.

[Ford_The_Win]

I still think white is the most sensible choice, really. It looks classy on most cars and is ultra low care. Always looks clean, never peels or flakes, easy to repair scrapes and scratches etc. That being said, it would be hard for me to look past an XR6 in Breeze and I love that dark teal colour they've got now, I've forgotten what it's called.

[4.0i OHC]

Originally Posted by Ford_The_Win

I still think white is the most sensible choice, really. It looks classy on most cars and is ultra low care. Always looks clean, never peels or flakes, easy to repair scrapes and scratches etc. That being said, it would be hard for me to look past an XR6 in Breeze and I love that dark teal colour they've got now, I've forgotten what it's called.

Agreed. As well as this, white also helps keep the interior cooler in the Brisbane sun

That said, I certainly wouldn't mind a BA XR in Blood Orange. The BA Falcon had some great colour choices.

[Resurrection]

Wow, so close to the truth. My car colours

2009 FG XR6 - Ego (grey)
2008 BF MKII XT - Lightning Strike (silver)
2003 BA XT - Shilouette (black)
1999 AU Forte - Shiloutte (black)
1997 EL Fairmont - purplish
1994 TS Magna SE - gun metal type grey
1990 EAII Ghia - burgandish
1979 GH Scorpion - light metallic blue

So five of my 8 cars were silver, grey and black. And my next car will be white as I've never had a white car.

[duaned]

White is the colour for kitchen & laundry goods mate, it looks plain jane on a car in my opinion! Dark colours remind me of euro cars, which kind of got me thinking. When was the last time you saw a euro in sunburst or blood orange? I like the bright blues, greens and shades of red (particularly on the VE). We need more of this.

[aussie muscle]

Originally Posted by duaned

White is the colour for kitchen & laundry goods mate, it looks plain jane on a car in my opinion!

me too, one of the ladies at work has a white xr6, it looks like a base model falcon.

Vehicle owners everywhere use colour choice to convey messages about themselves

what does bright orange say about me?

[Ford_The_Win]

Originally Posted by aussie muscle

me too, one of the ladies at work has a white xr6, it looks like a base model falcon.

Yes, but 15 years down the track, the white will still be gleaming whereas all the fancy metallic colours will have flaked, scratched, the clear will be lifting etc.

[TheInterceptor]

Originally Posted by aussie muscle

me too, one of the ladies at work has a white xr6, it looks like a base model falcon.



what does bright orange say about me?

You lose your car easy in carparks?

[SEZ213]

Originally Posted by aussie muscle

what does bright orange say about me?

It says you're awesome! And you will NEVER lose your car...

[TheInterceptor]

Despite an array of bright, vibrant car colours, many Ford customers in parts of the US and most European countries prefer the classic core colours – white, black, silver and grey.

Classic core colours, boring as bat **** colours more like it. Every car out there seems to be one of these colours.

Some cars could do with some colour. Even if its a brighter red, nothing extreme like lime unless it suits.

What about yellow? Cmon, you stand out more instead of blending into the surounds..and its great to look at imo.

Flame me as you wish

[4.0i OHC]

Originally Posted by TheInterceptor

Classic core colours, boring as bat **** colours more like it. Every car out there seems to be one of these colours.

Some cars could do with some colour. Even if its a brighter red, nothing extreme like lime unless it suits.

What about yellow? Cmon, you stand out more instead of blending into the surounds..and its great to look at imo.

Flame me as you wish

The key word being some. More subdued cars (such as the FG Falcon) are more suited to subdued colours, such as white.

That FG red is one great colour though, probably the best available after white.

EDIT: I don't think white looks boring at all; I believe a better word to describe it is 'classy'. I find darker colours (such as black, grey and silver) to be much more boring.

[TheInterceptor]

Originally Posted by fairlaneman

The key word being some. More subdued cars (such as the FG Falcon) are more suited to subdued colours, such as white.

That FG red is one great colour though, probably the best available after white.

EDIT: I don't think white looks boring at all; I believe a better word to describe it is 'classy'. I find darker colours (such as black, grey and silver) to be much more boring.

Yes, i specifically chose the word "Some" for the reason you mentioned.

Vixen red is my favourite falcon colour! But there is seemingly low numbers of red falcons around. I dont see a reason for that though.

Must be cheaper to produce the black white and all shades of grey coloured cars

[Resurrection]

Originally Posted by TheInterceptor

Vixen red is my favourite falcon colour! But there is seemingly low numbers of red falcons around. I dont see a reason for that though.

Red Falcons and blue Commodores are just wrong.

[TheInterceptor]

Originally Posted by Resurrection

Red Falcons and blue Commodores are just wrong.

[Gomez]

Originally Posted by TheInterceptor

...Vixen red is my favourite falcon colour! But there is seemingly low numbers of red falcons around. I dont see a reason for that though....

I'll give you one reason.

Ford didn't offer the 50th Anniversary cars in red.

I would have bought a red XR50 had it been available.

[Polyal]

And some designs/shapes lend themselves better to certain colours.

[In Focus]

Whoever selected the colours for the Mondeo range needs replacing. The most "out there" colour is dark blue...

[sudszy]

I suppose everyone has the right to make a choice, but please folks, if you are going to drive something that is in the dark, grey, silver colour range, put your lights on when it is overcast, so you stand out from the road and sky just a little!

[Bearman]

Originally Posted by sudszy

I suppose everyone has the right to make a choice, but please folks, if you are going to drive something that is in the dark, grey, silver colour range, put your lights on when it is overcast, so you stand out from the road and sky just a little!

I do. It's something my Dad drummed into me.

I am soooo over Silver. When I bought my BA the colours I wanted were Blueprint, Phantom and Mercury Silver. Hardly any of the first two but Mercurys everywhere....... Loved Mercury at the time but should have held out for Blueprint or Phantom.

Don't get me started on the current colour range, it is so boring. If I were buying new I'd have real trouble selecting a colour. The only viable colours for me are Nitro (common as muck), Vixen or Mystic (the nearest thing to Breeze there is). The BA and BF range had the best colours.

Look at Holdens colour range to illustrate the contrast.......

[2011G6E]

When we were considering an XR6 or an SV6 Commodore, we preferred the nice light blue and bright red XR6, and the brilliant yellow SV6.

However, when we saw the G6E in Edge, we thought the color really suited it. Sort of a luxury car look.

That said, it's a nightmare of a colour as it always looks dusty, and stone chips really stick out like dog cohones.
I've always found white and especially silver to be bland colors. Silver seems to advertise no sense of adventure.

But, color suits the individual, so it's hard to critisize an owner. I have found though that people nowadays are far more likely to just "take whatever is on the lot", instead of sitting down and carefully considering color options, interior color options, and so-on, like they used to in the old days.

[Ibo]

I love my Vixen Red BA xr6.

-It's bold enough to stand out, but not too-over-the-top. (i love the citric acid xr6, but I can see having that colour limiting the people interested in buying it)

-It matches the XR logo stitched into the leather seats.

- It matches and compliments the Blue and Red dials.


The downside is that it looks horrible when it get's dirty. I try not to let it get dirty

[aussie muscle]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

instead of sitting down and carefully considering color options, interior color options, and so-on, like they used to in the old days.

What, like metallic browns in the 70s?


bleech, i hate brown cars....

[csv8]

My Ghia is Silk, which I think is silver, but Q Transport says "light blue"
My Fez is Frost White.
I really like Holdens green, Poison Ivy. Ford has nothing close.

[SEZ213]

Originally Posted by csv8

My Ghia is Silk, which I think is silver, but Q Transport says "light blue"
My Fez is Frost White.
I really like Holdens green, Poison Ivy. Ford has nothing close.

What about Mystic? Granted it's not quite as 'luminous', but it's still a pretty cool colour...and would no doubt come in a metallic finish if you wanted?

[gumbi_18]

Originally Posted by Sezzy

What about Mystic? Granted it's not quite as 'luminous', but it's still a pretty cool colour...and would no doubt come in a metallic finish if you wanted?

That's the colour I wanted for my new Turbo ute but they no longer sell utes in that colour. Come to think of it I haven't seen any utes getting around in that colour. I had to settle for Nitro...

[BadMax]

I read a global colour trend article late last year. Globaly about 26% of new cars sold are silver followed closely by 24% being black, white was quite low in comparison and this is noticeable in fleets expanding colour choices, gold and it's derivities were 1%.

[Bearman]

Originally Posted by csv8

My Ghia is Silk, which I think is silver, but Q Transport says "light blue"
My Fez is Frost White.
I really like Holdens green, Poison Ivy. Ford has nothing close.

What he said^^^ It's a great colour.

I also love their Yellow and if I were to go to the dark side I'd order the Yellow in a heartbeat.

Ford - BRING BACK RAPID!!!!!!!!!

[Bucknaked]

Originally Posted by russellw

[FONT=Comic Sans MS][SIZE=3]Despite an array of bright, vibrant car colours, many Ford customers in parts of the US prefer the classic core colours – white, black, silver and grey.

I think their plain Jane tastes are reflected not only on their color choices, but their design's in general. Big Grilles, huge trucks and their obsession with SUV's as well as their approach to car design in general. Their are a couple of exceptions. It comes as no surprise they prefer core colors. Time to step out of the box.