What is With All These Muddy Car Colours?

New cars now seem to often have flatted out muddy looking colours rather than bright with metallic fleck.  Where did this trend come from?  The look was fine for military vehicles but does anyone think they look better on street vehicles?

Article here      https://www.latimes.com/business/story/2023-03-07/la-fi-car-paint-trend-nissan-porsche-hyundai#:~:text=Vehicles%20clad%20in%20these%20nonmetallic,is%20faintly%20but%20palpably%20uncanny.%E2%80%9D

Does anyone really want their Ferrari (or anything else) to look like this?  And the price of getting some of these drab colours can be quite high - thousands more than a regular paint.  Plus one should consider than anything that makes your car less noticeable in traffic raises the chances of collision damage.

I first noticed these what I would call "warm" colors on Fiats a few years back; both a green and a blue that had a bit of brown in them. I really like them. And greys from a bunch of manufacturers.

I'm dubious that the "light-reflecting" (as the article calls them) metallic flakes make any difference to visibility given two grey cars. And I really prefer the look of the warm nonmetallic grey (there's been plenty of argument here about whether they look cool or like a breaker panel box. I say "why not both?").

As far as the high-cost option, there are plenty of makes that will charge you a lot for anything. I don't think these colors are intrinsically that way; pretty sure they're just "colors" on a lot of cars. Where there's pricing insanity, it's the manufacturers and dealers, not the paint.

I think it's reaction to "I don't like silver but still want a boring color."

Jesse Ransom said:

I'm dubious that the "light-reflecting" (as the article calls them) metallic flakes make any difference to visibility given two grey cars. And I really prefer the look of the warm nonmetallic grey (there's been plenty of argument here about whether they look cool or like a breaker panel box. I say "why not both?").

They look like someone forgot the color coat and just ran clear over the primer.  Ugh. :)

I call them "High-pigment" colors.

There are a few that I like a lot: Nardo Grey on an Audi, XXX blue on a Tacoma. There is also a pretty cool green from Nissan I've seen on a Frontier.

I really like these colors. On other peoples cars. Trends are cool, but they look dumb after they pass.

Pete

Hey, everyone! Did you know that you can polish primer?

Some cars have ALWAYS looked good in these shades...

I really like them! Along the same lines as Chris_V, they remind me of older paint colors (40's-60's) in a good way.

I've never really thought metallics were an automatic universal improvement over nice solid colors. Not that I hate metallics, but I like more unique, yet subtle colors, and so many vehicles in the road now have metallic paint, so I like the breath of fresh air from these solid taupes, grey-greens, greys, slate blues, etc.

I realize that at one point in the past, metallic paints were fancy, and an upgrade or a way to stand out. As competition wore on, the manufacturers strove to offer more features as standard, and make everything look more upscale. It seems like there was a long period from sometime in the 90's onward where 99.9% of vehicles were slight variations on one about a half-dozen colors: metallic silver, metallic charcoal, metallic navy blue, metallic burgundy, metallic gold/beige, black, white. At this time I started yearning for more solids, and more variety, but not-necessarily eye-searing bold colors. Nice to see the market responding with some options! 

I feel like metallics became standard when automakers needed to cover up the Maaco levels of orange peel that all new cars have had since sometime in the early 2000's. 

I remember trading in my 2003 Jetta wagon for a 2006 Golf and realizing how bad the finish on the golf was compared to the older car next to it. 

Count me in on love for these vintage inspired colors. I am particularly enamored with the the Dodge Ceramic blue

In reply to Trent :

I didn't mention paint/bodywork quality, but you bring up a good point. Straying away from stock vehicles for a moment, I really love seeing something with great bodywork, near-perfect shutlines, and a muted paint color really well laid on the car. Makes my jaw hit the floor much more so than a mediocre but sparkly paint job.
 

Next time I see a newish stock vehicle in a muted solid parked somewhere, I'll have to pore over the factory paint quality.

ae86andkp61 (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to Trent :

I didn't mention paint/bodywork quality, but you bring up a good point. Straying away from stock vehicles for a moment, I really love seeing something with great bodywork, near-perfect shutlines, and a muted paint color really well laid on the car. Makes my jaw hit the floor much more so than a mediocre but sparkly paint job.
 

Next time I see a newish stock vehicle in a muted solid parked somewhere, I'll have to pore over the factory paint quality.

Here's an example, of what he's talking about with orange peel on a new M3:

Waterborne paint really is harder for the factories to get smooth finishes out of. Even Mercedes has this issue:

FWIW, I do dig these warmer, non-metallic paints. 

David S. Wallens said:

FWIW, I do dig these warmer, non-metallic paints. 

I do too, but as with anything, trendiness is stomping all over it with both feet, and it will soon be played out.

I saw one of those Hyundai El Camino things one day, and wondered why on earth someone would prime over the factory paint...

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

It looks like epoxy floor paint to me 

Its earth tones and pastels and other semi-flat colors. 

Its kind of worked over from other fashion areas too. In 2014 when my wife and I were wedding planning, we had a heck of a time finding bridesmaids dresses in non-pastel colors. (we wanted a dark green, she called it hunter green, I called it british racing green).

I was glad they had a dark blue available when I ordered my truck.