I am 77 year old who had a commercial truck license for over 30 years. Car colors matter when they are driving on rain-slicked pavement. Too many shades of silver, gray and even gold seem to disappear when lighting is poor. There is very little contrast between the colors of wet concrete or asphalt highways and the majority of new cars. I suggest buying cars with visibility in mind.
I'll buy that economies of scale play into it a little bit, but I suspect if the demand were there, companies would still offer bright colors (see: modern American muscle cars). Instead, American adults have gotten boring, the same reason "greige" and slate blue are the most popular house paint colors today.
Plus, cars are just a commodity these days for most people. They don't take personal ownership of them in an emotional sense. A "car guy" friend of mine maintains his cars, washes them, takes good care of them. And they're gorgeous, vibrant colors (all late model, btw, which he paid a premium for). But for the average American, a car is just a way to get from A to B. They put gas in em, and that's about it. Maybe get the oil changed or new tires or brakes when they fail inspection. Nobody's emotionally invested in a gray Prius.
Not to mention insurance companies putting downward pressure on demand for brightly-colored cars with higher premiums to insure them.
Perfect example for two topics: production costs and monopolistic competition. You covered the ATC going down with fewer color choices well in the article, and I could harken back to the example when we talk about differentiation for monopolistic competitors. I have an iPhone 13 that has the Sierra Blue color option and no other iPhone had that color. If I see it in the wild, I know that person has an iPhone 13. It would be cool to have unique colors for certain years of car production too so you know that the llama orange SUV must be the 2027 Toyota Crumpler.
I am 77 year old who had a commercial truck license for over 30 years. Car colors matter when they are driving on rain-slicked pavement. Too many shades of silver, gray and even gold seem to disappear when lighting is poor. There is very little contrast between the colors of wet concrete or asphalt highways and the majority of new cars. I suggest buying cars with visibility in mind.
Blue Spider
Grey cars, grey fog, and no headlights are a special kind of driver that shouldn't have a license to drive.
I'll buy that economies of scale play into it a little bit, but I suspect if the demand were there, companies would still offer bright colors (see: modern American muscle cars). Instead, American adults have gotten boring, the same reason "greige" and slate blue are the most popular house paint colors today.
Plus, cars are just a commodity these days for most people. They don't take personal ownership of them in an emotional sense. A "car guy" friend of mine maintains his cars, washes them, takes good care of them. And they're gorgeous, vibrant colors (all late model, btw, which he paid a premium for). But for the average American, a car is just a way to get from A to B. They put gas in em, and that's about it. Maybe get the oil changed or new tires or brakes when they fail inspection. Nobody's emotionally invested in a gray Prius.
Not to mention insurance companies putting downward pressure on demand for brightly-colored cars with higher premiums to insure them.
You can still get fancy colors with high-end luxury cars, but that's beside your point. Here's the Business Insider article where I picked out all the data for the post: https://www.businessinsider.com/why-car-colors-boring-black-white-gray-cost-cutting-2024-10
Why do insurance companies charge higher premiums for bright colored cars?
Couldn't tell you why. Heck, now that I'm thinking about it, it might not even be true anymore; it's something I recall hearing from when I was a kid.
I remember hearing the same thing, but Allstate and Progressive both explicitly mention this isn't true:
https://www.allstate.com/resources/car-insurance/do-red-cars-cost-more-to-insure
https://www.progressive.com/answers/red-car-myths/
It's a great example of statistical discrimination in that the person who chooses a red car may be costlier to insure.
> It's a great example of statistical discrimination in that the person who chooses a red car may be costlier to insure.
Perfectly articulates my previously inarticulable thoughts
Perfect example for two topics: production costs and monopolistic competition. You covered the ATC going down with fewer color choices well in the article, and I could harken back to the example when we talk about differentiation for monopolistic competitors. I have an iPhone 13 that has the Sierra Blue color option and no other iPhone had that color. If I see it in the wild, I know that person has an iPhone 13. It would be cool to have unique colors for certain years of car production too so you know that the llama orange SUV must be the 2027 Toyota Crumpler.
I was close to looping in product differentiation, but I was going to pitch it in the oligopolies side of things instead of monopolistic competition.
I never thought of it this way, thanks!