Stylish again: blue cars
I have to admit, when I look for my car in the vicinity because I haven’t used it in days or weeks and can’t remember where I last parked it, it’s normally not the only blue Golf IV in the street. A lot of them look virtually the same, and I can only find mine because of the number plate.
Blue has never been outdated, I think. But I didn’t know I would be so “stylish” again with my rather old car.
Now I’m wondering: do car buyers reflect on the colour researchers’ reasoning?
Here is the part on the colour blue:
“Blue hues characterize technical impression
Digital technologies are drastically changing our consumption and living habits. In the future, the Internet of Things will cause us to engage in dialog with our surroundings at all times. This interactivity is an important criterion for designing colors, which is manifesting itself in particular in the blue spectrum. “Colors with a technical character often have very complex effects that specifically interact with the light incidence,” explained Mark Gutjahr, Head of Design at BASF's Coatings division in Europe. “Blue will play an important role in this field and will, despite the lower automobile registrations within the last few years, increase. This is also enabled by the extended portfolio in this color area.” The different hues reflect the versatile possibilities in a world in progress: the market will see anything, from bright blue shades to black blue color areas.”
According to the German Kraftfahrtbundesamt (Federal Office for Motor Vehicles), non-intensive colours dominated registration of new cars in Germany in 2014: black (27.8 %), grey (27.2 %), and white (19.6). Blue is on fourth place with 8.7 %, followed by red (6.0 %). It comes as no surprise that women tend to choose more colourful cars. 10.3 % of female car owners decided to buy a blue vehicle, compared to 9 % male owners. Looking at the colour red, the difference becomes even clearer, with 10.3 % female car owners and 7.1 % male owners respectively.
When I chose my blue car back then, I didn’t think about the technical character of the colour, I simply found it nice. If I decided to buy a new car in the near future (even though that is most unlikely, as I don’t really need a car anymore and prefer to use public transportation or my bike nowadays), I would probably again go for blue, but probably still because I simply think it’s a nice colour. So what is your opinion? Do you think social and technological changes influence car buyers’ decisions when it comes to colour? Share your views with me.