They used to say that a good horse is never a bad colour.\u00a0 The same probably also applies to cars \u2013 or does it?\u00a0 While a car\u2019s colour doesn\u2019t really affect its performance or handling, colour certainly has a psychological effect on the buyer and the beholder, and it can also affect safety.\u00a0 It might even affect the price of the car, in the case of second-hand vehicles, especially.\u00a0 And if you\u2019re buying a new car, you tend to get a choice of colour, so it pays to be informed!<\/p>\n
White:<\/strong>\u00a0 This is one of the most common car colours on the road, and with good reason.\u00a0 Roads tend to be black, so a white car stands out more and can be seen easily.\u00a0 It can even be seen during difficult light conditions, such as dusk (not so good in fog or in a blizzard, though).\u00a0 From a safety perspective, white makes sense, which is why most car makes and models include a white version.\u00a0 However, white 4x4s that are going to be used off road are less popular, as white shows every bit of dirt.\u00a0 White also makes a good \u201ccanvas\u201d for company logos, so it is also a good choice for commercial fleets.\u00a0 If you\u2019re buying a car with practicality uppermost in your mind or safety uppermost, then white makes a good choice.\u00a0 However, because it\u2019s common, white can be seen as a little bland and boring.<\/p>\n Black:<\/strong>\u00a0 This is a prestige colour, being the colour of business suits, briefcases and New Zealand rugby teams (shoot me later). It\u2019s dark, sleek and mysterious, like sunglasses or black panthers.\u00a0 From an image perspective, black is sexy and savvy, and it can be seen as either tough or smooth, masculine or feminine.\u00a0 It\u2019s also very traditional \u2013 we all remember Ford\u2019s famous line about \u201cany colour as long as it\u2019s black.\u201d\u00a0 From a safety perspective, though, black isn\u2019t so hot, as it makes the car harder to see in poor lighting conditions.\u00a0 Black also makes a reasonable canvas for company logos, especially if your logo involves white, yellow and red, or other colours that stand out against a dark background for impact.<\/p>\n Red:<\/strong>\u00a0 Another popular colour that has plenty of appeal.\u00a0 Psychologists tell us that red is stimulating and alerting, which is why the half-joking myth that red cars go faster has sprung up.\u00a0 It\u2019s also a cheerful, friendly colour that seems to attract children, making this a good colour for a family car \u2013 if you can tolerate endless repetitions of \u201cToot-toot, chugga, chugga, Big Red Car…\u201d \u00a0From a safety perspective, red doesn\u2019t stand out much from the background in dull light, but is one of the \u201cattention \u2013 look at me\u201d colours during daylight.\u00a0 It\u2019s less practical as a background for a company logo, unless your logo is black and white.<\/p>\n Dark red deserves a mention here.\u00a0 This colour tends to be found on 4x4s, especially those of the late 1990s and early 2000s.\u00a0 It\u2019s a better background colour for logos but has less stand-out impact.<\/p>\n Reds also seem to be a bit more vulnerable to fading in sunlight.\u00a0 This may be something to do with infra-red light.\u00a0 Is anyone able to shed some light on this mystery?<\/p>\n Green:<\/strong>\u00a0 This colour is associated with the environment, so you would think that it would be the top choice for hybrids and bio-fuel vehicles.\u00a0 Oddly enough, it isn\u2019t particularly.\u00a0 Greens come in two types: bright apple and lime tones, which tend to be associated with small, fun hatchbacks; and dark greens along the lines of British Racing Green, which is more sophisticated and is often found on Jaguars.\u00a0 Both colours make reasonable canvasses for company logos \u2013 blues, reds, yellows and whites stand out quite nicely against both types.\u00a0 From a safety perspective, the bright greens tend to be quite eye-catching in daylight, mostly because it\u2019s not a common colour.\u00a0<\/p>\n The darker greens (often combined with minty tones) and the olive greens are often found on 4x4s, harking back to the military background of vehicles like the Jeep.\u00a0 However, don\u2019t let a salesman fool you into thinking that a green 4×4 will camouflage you better, allowing you to get closer to wildlife for a better shot (either with a camera or with a rifle): the noise and smell will have given you away long before that. However, darker green combines quite honourably with the dirt of off-roading without looking sleazy.<\/p>\n Yellow:<\/strong>\u00a0 This is another bold colour that ranks second to white for ability to be seen. The fluorescent yellows possibly stand out even more in daylight. Yellow seems to have some of the cheerfulness of red but is more of an extrovert. As a canvas for company logos, it\u2019s not so hot, unless your logo is in red or black.\u00a0 Black, red and yellow is a high-impact combo that is used in nature as a warning.\u00a0 It\u2019s also a patriotic colour, especially combined with green.<\/p>\n Yellow can also include the back-to-nature sandy beige tones of late 1970s vehicles (good canvasses for logos) and the champagne-gold tones of early- to mid-1990s models (sophisticated and subtle, tending to fade to greyish as they age; also good backgrounds).<\/p>\n Blue:<\/strong>\u00a0 Blue is proven to be a calming, soothing colour \u2013 unless you happen to see a blue light flashing behind you alongside a red one, which could mean you\u2019ve been clocked speeding and are going to be hit in the wallet.\u00a0 From a safety perspective, blues are neither here nor there, but blue-greys are dodgy.\u00a0 Navy blues are sophisticated, but are more subtle than black.\u00a0 Cobalt, peacock and butcher\u2019s blue are modern and trendy (at least at the time of writing).\u00a0 Pale blue is friendlier.\u00a0 All of the blues combine reasonably well with other colours as a logo canvas, though whether you prefer the darker tones or the lighter ones depends on what colours are involved in your logo.\u00a0<\/p>\n Grey:<\/strong>\u00a0 Grey is subtle and mysterious, but in a less in-your-face way than black.\u00a0 It\u2019s a natural colour, being the tones of rock, cloud and smoke, giving the colour an eco-friendly overtone.\u00a0 It handles the dirt well on 4x4s but looks equally stylish on an executive saloon trimmed with chrome.\u00a0 Grey makes a first-class background for logos, as both black and white show up well against it.\u00a0 Grey, however, absolutely sucks from a safety perspective, as it\u2019s harder to see against a grey background no matter what time of day. Grey is damn near invisible in dusk, which is why wolves and cats are that colour.\u00a0 If you choose a grey car (I had one once, but before you ask, it didn\u2019t get written off in a crash at evening), be one of the first to put your lights on as evening draws on.<\/p>\n Brown:<\/strong>\u00a0 This colour is less common these days, so it\u2019s unlikely to be seen on new cars.\u00a0 Think of old Fords and Holdens.\u00a0 It\u2019s a warm, eco-friendly colour that doesn\u2019t show the dirt much.\u00a0 it may be due for a comeback, unless it is frowned upon from a safety perspective, as it\u2019s not a high-impact colour.<\/p>\n Purple:<\/strong>\u00a0 Another rarely seen colour, but one that has more sophistication than brown.\u00a0 Purple tends to be associated with creativity and quirkiness (towards the violet and lavender end of purple) or with royalty (towards the dark eggplant tones).\u00a0 Purple cars tend to be noticed, but this is because they are rarer.\u00a0 Another colour that could well be fashionable in the future.<\/p>\n Orange:<\/strong>\u00a0 Bold, warm and stimulating, orange tends to be a love-it-or-hate-it colour.\u00a0 It\u2019s even more stimulating and energetic than red, which may be why it\u2019s one of the colour choices for the latest selection of HSVs.\u00a0 From a safety perspective, a bright orange is up there behind white and yellow for visibility.\u00a0 However, it\u2019s not a good canvas for company logos, as nothing much seems to stand out on it except for black.\u00a0 It\u2019s something of a retro colour, as it was popular during the 1970s (and that\u2019s an understatement!).<\/p>\n Pink:<\/strong>\u00a0 This colour is considered to be sweet, soft and feminine, which is why it isn\u2019t a very popular car colour.\u00a0 While most women are happy enough to drive around in a red, grey, white or any other colour of vehicle, most men would rather be seen dead than driving a pink car.\u00a0 Even if you\u2019re a woman, pink cars can tend to be a bit too Barbie-doll. When it comes to cars, pink possibly stinks \u2013 to the extent that a (male) friend of mine was able to buy a second-hand magenta van super-cheap: no other commercial contractors would touch the thing.\u00a0 But the van fitted all his gear and the more muted magenta carried his (white and yellow) logo reasonably well \u2013 and it certainly stood out from the ranks of white vans other contractors drove.\u00a0 Bright pinks tend to be rather visible \u2013 probably on a level with yellow from a safety perspective \u2013 and it is a rather fun colour.\u00a0 While this won\u2019t be the most common colour in the world, it has potential as vehicle manufacturers tend to target women buyers more. Expect to see this on VW Beetles, small hatchbacks, convertibles and, of course, Cadillacs. http:\/\/credit-n.ru\/zaymyi-v-ukraine.html<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" They used to say that a good horse is never a bad colour.\u00a0 The same probably also applies to cars \u2013 or does it?\u00a0 While a car\u2019s colour doesn\u2019t really affect its performance or handling, colour certainly has a psychological effect on the buyer and the beholder, and it can also affect safety.\u00a0 It might […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-498","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-home"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=498"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12554,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/498\/revisions\/12554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.privatefleet.com.au\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}