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Sure looks a lot like your father's Oldsmobile...
Electric cars were supposed to be the future – or at least look like it. So now they're here, why do they still look like ordinary petrol and diesel cars and not dazzling props from a science fiction film.
Before they hit the market and became relatively mainstream, many imagined (or at least, hoped) that electric cars would resemble the Light Runner from Tron: Legacy. After all, without the need for an internal combustion engine, an exhaust system and a fuel tank, electric car designers should have the creative freedom to rip up the rule book and create some truly eye-catching vehicles.
But this hasn't really happened. Park a Renault Zoe next to a Renault Clio, for example, and compare the two. While there are subtle differences and styling cues that suggest the Zoe is electric and the Clio isn't, the overall body form is strikingly similar. In fact, the Zoe is assembled on the same production line as the Clio and Nissan Micra.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 14 2018, @02:53PM (6 children)
Which can be "proven" just by looking at the color and paint scheme distribution of cars on the road. What's the percentage of "bland" vs "vivid / recognizable" in your town?
It's not hard, or even very expensive, for people to make their cars brightly colored, or uniquely identifiable, even in a city of a million people - but, barely 1% choose to do so.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by tekk on Sunday January 14 2018, @06:19PM (4 children)
I may have heard wrong, but I was told that the reason for boring colors in cars was insurance. The color of your car isn't something that's on too many people's mind and your insurance isn't as expensive for a car that's silver or white (high visibility, but not a risk taker's color like yellow or red) as it is for other colors, and so all other things being equal, people go for the one with cheaper insurance.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Sunday January 14 2018, @06:27PM
That's not how my insurance company works... I have heard stories about white cars being cheaper to insure than black with some companies, but that doesn't seem to reduce the black count very much.
Then there's the old "arrest me red" legend, which... isn't all about the red. I've driven a sports car with two bold red racing stripes down the middle, and once in a while a cop will take notice and tail me, but after they determine that I'm under the speed limit and the white hair registers with them, they lose interest and drive away. When I was just a punk kid in a super-bland white Honda Civic, they'd still pull me over for looking like a punk kid, even if I was under the speed limit.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 1) by toddestan on Sunday January 14 2018, @09:28PM (1 child)
The problem is that many cars don't offer exciting colors anymore. If you look at new cars, you'll find they come in white, black, various shades of silver and grey, a beige or brown (less common now), and if you're lucky maybe a maroonish color. The exceptions are generally small/cheap cars, and fun/sporty cars. Interiors are even more drab, with most cars offering at most two colors, almost always a black and a lightish tan as your only two options.
I think a lot of this has to do with the decline of special-ordering cars, and maybe a bit with people worried about resale. A dealer doesn't want to order a bright blue or green car for stock, as not everyone will want that color so they might get stuck with it for a while. Whereas most people are willing to settle for a silver/grey/beige vehicle out of dealer stock if the color they really want isn't available, so that's what the dealers order.
Of course, you can always personalize your vehicle and have it repainted any color you want. However, that's expensive if you want it done right, and secondly it will pretty much destroy your resale value.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday January 15 2018, @02:54AM
I have the feeling that if the wild colors would sell, they would be offered for sale.
We bought a bright yellow Dodge Caliber from the first year or two of production, I think they did that one to get attention for the model - but by the third year of production the brightest color on offer was a sort of dull burnt orange metallic... if people were buying the YELLOW they would have continued to offer it, I'm sure.
We bought that car used when it was a year old, and it had been sitting on the lot for a couple of months... you may be right about the resale thing... didn't bother us at all, we drove it until it was only worth about $1500, at that price point color doesn't seem to be as big a deal.
🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday January 15 2018, @09:04AM
That doesn't explain it.
The least stolen car color is pink. To make it even better from an insurance point of view, pick a highly visible pink, rather than the standard "same color as the fog" gray metallic.
(Score: 2) by bob_super on Monday January 15 2018, @06:15AM
Non-boring colors reduce resale value.