I think automakers are getting too comfortable with the standardization that is occurring across the industry. Standardization is a good thing, but it can lead to just being plain cheap and uninventive in certain areas of cars. Take for instance colours. During the 1970s and 1980s, it wasn’t uncommon for a car to be offered in over 20 different exterior colours and maybe 8 or more interior colours. Many cars were available with two-tone paint jobs too, so that added even more exterior colour combinations. You try to find a car built today that doesn’t offer more than, say, 3 interior colours. It’s very uncommon.
Seems to me that you can get most cars today with any interior colour you want as long as it’s beige, grey or black. What happened to the good old days when you could order white leather or red leather? Unless you are buying a Porsche or some other fairly expensive car, you won’t see any other colours but beige, grey and black for interiors. The other thing that is equally as annoying is that oftentimes manufacturers limit what interior colour you can get with a certain exterior colour. Does it honestly cost Ford anymore money to offer white leather for a red Mustang? You can get white leather only with a white exterior. Why can’t I get white leather with a red or yellow exterior? Why does Ford feel the need to decide for me what interior colours look right with certain exterior colours? I don’t even care if they charge extra for it, just make the choice available for those who don’t want the standard run-of-the-mill colour combinations.
Exterior colours aren’t much better. Popular colours at the moment seem to be silver, black and tan. In 1981, Lincoln offered the Town Car in 18 exterior colours. Even more colours were available in subsequent years. Most cars today aren’t available in 18 colours. I suspect the reason why less colours are available now is so fewer colour combinations are available for the customer, thus simplifying ordering for dealerships. These colours also reduce the likely hood of an unusual colour combination. Most of the colours available for cars seem to be on the conservative side also. Of course, there are exceptions. The VW Beetle is available in some pretty unusual colours. I love that Sundance Orange they have for that.
Car makers seem to be getting a little bit too stingy on the colours in my opinion. I can understand if dealerships want to order their stock in these non-offensive colours since they probably appeal to the majority of people. All I’m asking is that they at least make more colour choices available for those who might actually be interested in them, especially with the interior colours. I’m sure I’m in the minority here, but I don’t think anything looks better in a car than a white leather interior. Why is white leather not available on practically every car? I have no idea. Maybe it’s cost. I can’t understand why it would cost anymore money to at least make it available. I’m no economist; I just know that I’m disappointed with the colour palette that most cars are limited to these days. I’d like to write more on this topic some other time.
