As a Senior Person I get to be grumpy from time to time (only on days with “y” in them, to be honest), and one thing I love to complain about is the general demise of color in the US vehicle fleet. I like colorful cars: my family has owned some red ones, a few blues, greens, and even the dreaded brown (believe it or not, a Porsche!). These used to be common on our roads, but someone has turned the clock back, and now our color TV set has washed out to B&W. Who did this and where do I complain about it?
I am not making this up: see a recent chart from Business Insider, swiped from an article called “The Monochroming of America”, by Mark Healy:
As of today, Mark’s sources tell him the dreaded white/gray (or silver)/black trio make up 80% of the colors on the road… whereas you can see by the chart that our past was much more colorful.
What happened? Healy reports that Edmunds says it is a matter of cost: if an OEM is trying to hold the line on price, it can cut back to a shorter list of colors (because complexity drives cost in automotive, generally). And I’ve seen research showing that the w/g(s)/b trio has the dubious honor of being the “least disliked” group of colors: relatively few people hate them, even though relatively few love them, too. Then, to add insult to injury, the OEM can upcharge for one of the colors (that used to come as a free choice), and make some extra profit. Bummer.
I am not sure I am completely convinced this is the only explanation. I think there is another factor at work, driven by the “least disliked” label, and that is monochromaticism as support for resale value. At some point people realized a w/g(s)/b car would be easier to resell when it was time for them to buy a new car, as relatively few used shoppers would reject a w/g/b/s vehicle. Thus a self-reinforcing cycle emerged: if “everyone knows” a bland color is easier to (re)sell, then everyone buys monochrome, and on we go. Meh.
The question I have is “What went on with green in 1997?” Anyone have an idea? Upsurge in the popularity of guacamole?