Shine on Harvest Moon

Just when I thought buyers and manufacturers had come to an agreement, the stats tell us otherwise. For years many car trade people have gone for the safety first option when stocking forecourts so silver, black and blue have been the constants in an ever changing universe. Over the last few years however people have become more adventurous when it comes to buying and selling a particular colour. Recently, when visiting dealer forecourts, I notice the more quirky colours being confidently displayed and stocked and, believe it or not, some of these more vibrant colours are actually costing customers more.

I spoke to a dealer who sells lots of VW product and he told me that Beetle cabriolets sell better if they are in a colour called “harvest moon”, which looks like a kind of creamy beige colour. In fact he said that he could generally get up to a staggering £1000 more for this colour than anything else. There are also certain cars which look great in bright red and electric blue and more surprisingly really loud kind of metallic greens, even white is becoming a very popular choice in certain sporty models.

This all sounds great because, for one thing, it certainly livens up any display and dealers are certainly more receptive to selling customers more adventurous colours new knowing there is a market for them used. I believe that the reason for this apparent change in attitude is that, as one dealer explained to me, with the internet being so powerful with multi pictures and detailed clear descriptions customers are prepared to travel, and where as a certain colour or model will only attract a tiny amount of potential buyers, the internet will definitely locate that buyer. With less choice in these more daring colours there is always a buyer waiting for that car.

This is an interesting development and will only encourage car makers and customers to experiment with different shades and tones. The time of the truly multi-coloured forecourt may still be some way away if recent figures published are anything to go by as the number one selling colour for a car in the UK is – you guessed it – Silver, closely followed by blue – although that obviously covers quite a multitude of shades – then black, grey, red, white and the rest are made up of greens, purples browns and yellows.

So maybe the staid British play it safe mentality may be around for a while yet, but we can live in hope.

Silver may be popular and safe but it isn’t half getting boring!