Any Color as Long as its Black... or White

While talking about the Model T, Henry Ford famously told his customers, "You can have any color as long as it's black." We've seen cars of every color of the rainbow since then, but the range of colors manufacturers offer today is surprisingly small.

The new Ford Fusion comes in ten colors. That sounds pretty good. Two of the colors are red and blue. Not bad. However, the rest of the colors are brown, black, two shades of white, and four shades of grey. Boring.

The Audi A8, which is an all new and very expensive car, has nine color options. They are dark blue, three shades of black, two shades of grey, silver, beige, and white. Also boring.

If you choose to buy a base Corolla, the only color available is... white. Sheesh. But don't worry, for $2000 more, you can purchase the package that gives you a few more color options. Red, blue, white, black, grey, grey, and grey.

Most BMWs, Mercedes, Jaguars, Buicks, Land Rovers, Acuras, Lincolns, Cadillacs, Chryslers, and Volkswagens have the same problem: Lack of choice. Why are all of these manufacturers only offering greys, whites, and blacks?

Well, the most popular car colors of last year were: #1 White, #2 Silver, and, #3 Black. So, we shouldn't blame the car companies for not offering more bright colors. It's obvious that's not what modern car buyers want.

Maybe Mr. Ford's plan to only sell black cars wasn't so bad. Maybe he was just ahead of his time.