In the past 6-8 months or so, I’ve noticed car colors that I’d never seen before. New cars. Not new colors exactly, but a different shade or sheen. There’s a slight flatness and sameness to it. Anyone know what I’m talking about? Anyone seen these new colors? I suspect there’s some environmental aspect to the change. But I have no clue. Dopers?
Non-metallic flat grey accounts for about one in five new cars these days.
This FQ thread from 2 months ago isn’t exactly on your point but adjacent. You’ll find at least some relevant info there.
It’s more of a matte look and it’s just a fashion trend, so to speak.
As the linked thread explains, it’s just a lack of pearlescent material or metal flake in the paint, both of which have been a staple for decades because they make colors seem more vibrant and hide imperfections. It’s a cosmetic trend.
It seems to me that this is actually on the wane. Soon after COVID started to recede I remember noticing a lot of matte-enamel finishes in tones like brown, grey, cream, robin’s egg, like my grandma’s kitchen appliances from the early 60’s. My amateur interpretation was in the post-COVID days, people were feeling somber and ordering less-flashy cars. And maybe there was a shortage in those particular paint materials at the time, though that’s just a wild guess on my part. Things weren’t normal then, everybody was trying different things.
But consumer fads do come and go, and cars are no different. Honestly I felt this one was destined to be a flash-in-the-pan because in my opinion this trim isn’t very attractive. It just had very high novelty value in the 2022 timeframe. You can still see these cars on the road, but it seems to me that this one peaked hard and they’re not so common anymore.
It started as a niche option on high end sports cars, either to stand out or to showcase the cars’ construction and design. Once it trickled down to plebian cars it was destined to become played out.
Yeah, I noticed this a few years ago. It doesn’t seem to be growing much in popularity though.
My understanding is that those matte paint finishes require special attention when washing the cars, so you can’t just go through an automatic car wash. That would be a non-starter for me at least.
Matte paint yes, as they don’t have traditional clear coats. But this thread is about a different style.
It is? Can you link to an article or something showing photos?
Eta: it’s usually grey but there’s no limitation on the color, brown and blue are also in the wild. Gray sorta works best with the look through.
Here’s a good writeup on the phenomenon. It sounds like the big splash was Audi Nardo Grey for the solid, non-metallic high gloss look, starting in 2013. A lot of brands started imitating it, and in my opinion it “jumped the shark” in 2022 when Mini Cooper went big with several different finishes that looked like a 1962 enamel Frigidaire from my grandma’s kitchen (the one with the external latch, which we called the kids’ death chamber, but I digress). Those are the ones I saw everywhere, and they stopped selling them in 2024.
Now if you’re talking about newer more recent finishes, the flat look has evolved toward a more metallic low-gloss sateen. Personally I like these a lot better, though (a) they’re hard to care for since that cool unpolished sateen finish picks up an undesired polish very easily with friction, and (b) something this flashy and trendy will probably get tired very soon now that it’s hit the mainstream market.
So in a few years I expect we’ll be seeing decent used discounts on cars like this that have picked up some undesirable over-polishing that the owner doesn’t want to deal with.
I’m beginning to wonder how long before cars aren’t even painted at the factory (beyond primer), but are instead wrapped.
At which point your car can look like this if you want: wrapped cars - Google Image Search. Note that something of uniform color and something of wildly varying color and pattern cost the same to make. Retail price and installation may (read “will”) vary.
[aside]
Yesterday I saw a customized Barbie-like Bronco on display. The colors were bright white and bright Barbie pink. What caught my eye is the entire body exterior had been coated by something that resembled undercoat or rubber stucco. Or 15 grit sandpaper. It was very rough to the touch. And therefore utterly impossible to get and keep clean.
ETA: In fact, here is the very car: 2025 FORD BRONCO Pink - Soflo Customs
If you follow the link there are many pix. If you scroll down close to the bottom row of pix, there’s a closeup of the bucking horse raised logo on a pink background. That’s on the tailgate and the horse is about 7" tall. You can really see the scale and nature of the texture on that image.
Wildly impractical for production cars, but who knows what fashion will bring in 2035?
For any custom car hounds, that whole site is a treasure trove of Miami style wretched excess.
I asked my GF if she wanted the Bronco; her car is getting kinda raggedy. She said she’s thinking about it. Gulp. Oops on me! 
Gotta be more careful about jokes delivered deadpan.
Nice cite, thanks!
To me, some of colours look like TOS Enterprise.
I’ve been wondering about the cars that look like they coated in black primer. The first time I saw one it was parked next to me at work. I couldn’t understand if it was, indeed, primer, or some new, weird paint. After seeing a few more around, I figured it was the latter. WTF?
There also matte wraps now. It’s a style thing.
Matte finishes seem military or police-like. So extra menacing on a pickup or jeep or whatever of that ilk.
You also see them on non-threatening type cars just as a fashion statement. A matte-finished family wagon or sports car is (probably) pushing a different vibe.
Two things I have seen in this area: #1 is a flat paint that is not supposed to be shiny. It coles in everyu color. #2 is a plastic vinyl “wrap” that can be solid or camo or even shiny chrome in polished silver or a shiny reflective color. The last ones have a short life because U-V will degrade the wrap material,..it is NOT paint.
At my first real job (working at Toys R Us) back in the 90s, one of my managers drove a Saturn car that was the exact same share as the Star Trek: TNG version of the Enterprise. A weird shade that was almost pale grey, almost baby blue (depending on lighting).
Ooh, I think this is that color! (The person posting the image calls it “light blue metallic”.)
Here is a screenshot of the ship from the show for reference:
I always wondered if that shade was really inspired by the show, because in the early 90s it was still very popular, and that particular image is of a 1991 car.
I think that sometimes what’s in popular culture can definitely inspire automobile design choices, as the fad appeals to consumers. Sometimes it’s really blatant, like with the Barbie car that was linked earlier in this thread, and I personally remember when Nissan actually released officially licensed Rogue One cars (probably because they actually have a vehicle called a “Rogue”).
And in particular, that weird shade of grey that was being talked about in this thread and in the older thread is one I recognize being prominent in some recent science fiction video games in the past decade. It is (or at least was) a color that was associated with being “sleek, functional, and high tech”. Or at least that was my impression. Star ships, power armor, and mecha were in that color (that I sometimes see referred to as “dolphin grey” in some games though it probably also has other names). You can see how that might be appealing to car buyers.
ETA: A quick search for “dolphin grey” shows that to be an official shade used by Porsche at least. It’s described as a “pastel” which seems about right.
