Is red the new white

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ben_e71

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I've noticed in my tours round the local dealerships that more and more have Opal Red cars in. So is red becoming the new white....?
 
OEMs will often change their "launch colour" depending upon what's currently in vogue or is seen as the next big thing.

Silver was always a cop-out, so seeing M-B move to white was good. I remember a while back working with a european OEM who also launched in silver (the idea being that there was an association with other quality european manufacturers) and the difficulties we had in persuading them to move to other launch colours for their niche models. It did work as it made the new variants (usually coupes and cabrios) stand out from the rest of the market and new sales were better than expected - which I was happy to claim credit for!
 
Bronze is the 'new white'.
 
brown is the new white
red is the new blue
grey is the new silver
silver is the new beige

approximately.
 
Many many moons ago, when my Dad had a red Cortina GT (mark 1...) I remember reading that red was the safest colour on the road as it always looked closer to you than it actually was. Don't know the science etc behind that statement, but it's stuck in my memory for 40+ years!

Paint technology must have come on in leaps and bounds - my first red car was a 1983 944 lux with a pink wing. I've since had a 1988 944S and a 1994 968 (which I part with tomorrow after 12 1/2 years ownership) and no paint fade problems.
 
I've noticed in my tours round the local dealerships that more and more have Opal Red cars in. So is red becoming the new white....?

I hope not. Our SLK is in fire opal and we rather like there being so few of them. When we ordered ours the dealer had never seen a red one and tried hard to persuade us not to order it. IMHO it does look stunning.
Paint fade on red is not an issue anymore.
 
brown is the new white
red is the new blue
grey is the new silver
silver is the new beige

approximately.

This could start a very long winded debate :D
 
I hope not. Our SLK is in fire opal and we rather like there being so few of them. When we ordered ours the dealer had never seen a red one and tried hard to persuade us not to order it. IMHO it does look stunning.
Paint fade on red is not an issue anymore.

Yes I've only seen one red S204 Estate. Seen another red SLK at MB of Eastbourne though
 
brown is the new white
red is the new blue
grey is the new silver
silver is the new beige

That is just about spot on! brown now is what white was 4-5 years ago, when i bought my Golf GTI in white everyone had negative remarks, 2 years later it was suddenly vouge, look at the Volvo XC60 and BMW X1 in brown, both very nice in that colour but it wont last.
 
What, already?

White's hardly had a chance to be the new black.

I predict brown will be the new white.
 
No affence to all you silver car owners

At last manufactures have moved away from silver, and not only for cars but almost every appliance in the home.
You look in any carpark and you will see at least half are in silver and now I have gone off this finish in what ever I purchase.
I think I am right in saying BMW started that silver plague in the 90`s as their cars looked more expensive, which represents the colour of money, I read somewhere.
I noticed when looking around for my CLK this year that the silver ones were better value, has anyone else noticed this, very good news if you still like the colour and your in the market for some new wheels.
Good luck to all you silver Merc owners after all it`s all a very personel choice and don`t want to affend any proud owners in any way, and sure the colour of my car (black) is not to everyones taste.
What about pale blue ??????????
 
Silver will never go out of fashion, it is the only colour that hides dirt & keeps the car looking cleaner for longer.

Russ

and coming from a black car that would be nice
 
I think black is the worst colour for keeping clean closely followed by white. I quite like the darker Palladium silver as against the common Iridium. I guess certain colours are always associated with some brands, red for Ferrari even though the house colour is yellow. Mercs will always be silver. I quite like the beige/gold colours but was advised to steer clear of them as more difficult to sell. Their seems to be a more conservative choice for Mercs than BMW or Audi where other colours are more often seen.
 
Many many moons ago, when my Dad had a red Cortina GT (mark 1...) I remember reading that red was the safest colour on the road as it always looked closer to you than it actually was. Don't know the science etc behind that statement, but it's stuck in my memory for 40+ years!

Red is what's known as an advancing colour - it seems to come towards you. Colours on the blue side of the spectrum appear to recede. The effect is more noticeable when advancing (or active) colours are alongside receding (or passive) colours.

I'd be surprised if the effect in cars (if there was any real data to show it) was due to anything more than us being "programmed" to recognise and react to red as a colour indicating danger rather than more complex colour theory.
 
Small hatchbacks look good in White, BMW 1 series, the VW Golf and Scirocco (is that how you spell it?) particularly and I saw Alfa Brera this morning in gleaming white that looked stunning.

I had a Sierra estate in white as a company car years ago and said never again, a swine to keep clean.

I like my Mercs in Azurite Blue, I'm on my 3rd now in this colour, if I want to upgrade to a model from the noughties though I'll have to leave Azurite behind I'm afraid.....though I could respray a silver one.....:D
 

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