[anjan_c2007]

The Indo- Japanese (many are fully Japanese owned now) collaboration products viz. motor vehicles, be it two or four wheelers (no, they are yet to venture into the three wheeler market ) lack a colour choice. Sometimes the choice is so bland, insipid and morose, that other than the traditional silver, black, golden metallic, red, dark grey or white, rarely any other shade is made available. Metallic aquamarine is another shade that some of them come in.

We are observing right from the Maruti 800, Van/Omni, Gypsy, Hero Honda CD 100, Ind/TVS Suzuki AX 100 and Yamaha RD 350/ RX 100 days, the very restrictive colour shades offered by the respective manufacturers. Its much like the Model T Ford , which could be available in any colour as long as it was black.Or closer home, it was the Jawa/Yezdi or Bullet or Rajdoot Ranger for which newer shades were always tough to come by.
Ambassadors and Fiats, though bland in design for ages, offered a galaxy of shades from all ends of the spectrum and the colour schemes changed faster than anything else. Even Bajaj/Vespa and Lambretta scooters had a wide range of colour shades to offer.

Imagine now that the Maruti Swift and DZire are not available in any darker shade of green (even metallic).The non metallic, Oxford Blue shade is also a no-no for Maruti.They rarely have used this colour. Bayers Blue (800) in the 1980's was the closest they came. The older Honda Cty looked cool in this avatar.
The Suzuki Access is available in only 5 bland shades since ages.

The Honda Activa is available in only 6 shades again since ages. They have added the orchid metallic blue and armour gold metallic shades, replacing two other shades lately, about 9 years, after it was first introduced.
These are the few best selling models that I have reviewed here.

Most of these companies also take ages to scrap dated colour shades and introduce new ones.

Let us hope we see more colours from our Japanese manufacturers based here.

[ra'ul M]

The Zeb Estilo was available in all kinds of shades as far as I saw on the roads. Not that they made it look nicer!
But it was an exception I guess.

[girishglg]

Fully subscribe to the fact about Japs and another case to it is with Nano in a rainbow of exciting colours which leads the colour fest, though Nano may not be putting the sales charts on fire it is still welcome to choose from so many colour options.

Exactly in the situation pointed out by anjaan, most of these models have been big sellers in the market, hence the makers have not bothered to even offer new shades to the undemanding customer who would lap it anyways.

[apachelongbow]

Shades also are provided based on research on what shades the customers prefer. If a palate of greens is not provided, I believe because Indians dont want to purchase green colored cars per se. I remember Hyundai, Honda, Tata Safari and even Maruti had dark green and light green shades, however dont remember seening many green cars on the road. Similar case with dark/navy blue shades.
For a long time Indians were averse to experimentation in terms of color shades, it had to be a white/white variant, silver, brown, gray, biege or at max black. Red was acceptable eventually because of the holy significance of red sindoor.

Its only now that buyers are experimenting with greens, yellows, purples and oranges. As we experiment/accept more colors in our cars, so will the car makers provide a more colorful choice.

[chinkara]

Actually the number of colours is limited in order to reduce complexity in operations. So, they keep only the most popular shades.

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by chinkara

Actually the number of colours is limited in order to reduce complexity in operations. So, they keep only the most popular shades.

Thats not true. Shades are only a mix of primary colors (Red, Blue, Green). Depending on what shade is needed the RGB are mixed in proportion to produce the required shade. Its a computer controlled process, without any variation, hence the same shade across batches looks the same.

For metallic options a mixture of silica fleks are added to produce the shine and metallic look.

[n.devdath]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

Let us hope we see more colours from our Japanese manufacturers based here.

Japanese products in India are about giving the best VFM, not only to their consumers (there a lot of Japs which are in now way VFM..!!) but also to their companies in terms of profits.

This policy results getting out the same mundane shades, year over year.

This is also combined with the fact that the most common colors for vehicles around the world are shades of white, silver and black.

[giri1.8]

I think the main intention is to keep the production and distribution process more simple.Producing more colors might be simple,but distributing them takes more effort.Green swift comes to mind when I think of rare color on a popular car(I guess the color was discontinued as it didn't sell well).

[ashis89]

I think companies should offer atleast 10 more shades apart from the shades availables for all their models. These extra shades can be delivered within 1 month after being made to order. Customers who want their vehicles in their choicest colors, are willing to wait and also pay a minor premium(1k-5k INR at max) over the standard shade can order them.

This can be a good additional income for the companies and a buyer can get his vehicle in the color of his choice.


O.T- Swift and DZire are available in different shades. Vista and Manza are vaialble in different shades. I remember the golden shade of the old DZire attracted me for its practicality but was unavailable on the Swift. Why is it so?

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by ashis89

I think companies should offer atleast 10 more shades apart from the shades availables for all their models. These extra shades can be delivered within 1 month after being made to order. Customers who want their vehicles in their choicest colors, are willing to wait and also pay a minor premium(1k-5k INR at max) over the standard shade can order them.

This can be a good additional income for the companies and a buyer can get his vehicle in the color of his choice.


O.T- Swift and DZire are available in different shades. Vista and Manza are vaialble in different shades. I remember the golden shade of the old DZire attracted me for its practicality but was unavailable on the Swift. Why is it so?

Shades are made in batches as per manufacturing batches. Only in batches of say 100s or 1000s per batch, will it ensure that colors are provided economically. It typically starts from the lightest shade (white/silver) and then gets darker and darker till reaching dark gray, blue or black. Then the paint areas are cleaned and the process repeats.
So having a custom shade facility, will ensure the company needs a separate paint booth/shop and this process will ensure your custom paint car costs approx 25-30k more (same price as repainting the entire car with a shade of your choice outside).
Inr 1-5k max is the minimum even the local garage walla charges to repaint a single door or bumper, saying this so you get the scale of costs involved.

[anuragn]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

If a palate of greens is not provided, I believe because Indians dont want to purchase green colored cars per se.

I believe it is the chicken and egg story in above example.
Maybe Indians want a particular shade but do not want to wait and then the manufacturer says there is no demand. Only a very small percentage of buyers are hardcore fan of a particular colour and willing to wait for a month or two extra, but majority just take whatever is available off the shelf.
Even I was forced to opt for Pearl Silver (WagonR) even though I did not like this colour and would have preferred dark green. Even the Activa I booked was silver because it had the least waiting period i.e. only 6 months!

[CoolFire]

This lack of colour options is curious, given the status of our current market as almost a made to order one. In the case of successful diesel cars, most cars are produced only after booking. Maybe they are moving fast enough so that manufacturers don't bother too much.

One other reason that comes to mind is the high priority their customers tend to give for resale value - with only standard colours like white and silver being the most sought after there.

[vinair]

I personally like either white or black, depending on the model. To some extent, again, the yellows and reds too look good on few models (especially the Skodas and Fiats..).

Sober colors are what looks best on any Jap model, IMO. Any flashy, and they really looks cheap (the pink Zen Estilo, my!!! what can I say...).

[apachelongbow]

Originally Posted by anuragn

I believe it is the chicken and egg story in above example.
Maybe Indians want a particular shade but do not want to wait and then the manufacturer says there is no demand. Only a very small percentage of buyers are hardcore fan of a particular colour and willing to wait for a month or two extra, but majority just take whatever is available off the shelf.
Even I was forced to opt for Pearl Silver (WagonR) even though I did not like this colour and would have preferred dark green. Even the Activa I booked was silver because it had the least waiting period i.e. only 6 months!

I agree to a certain extent. However we Indians seem to have a love/hate relation with green. Almost all manufacturers have provided a shade of dark green sometime or the other (think Hyundai and their dark green, maruti and the green, Honda city green, mahindra xuv green) however i believe there is a severe lack of demand for this color, since the makers discontinue this shade in a couple of months.

[chinkara]

Originally Posted by apachelongbow

Thats not true. Shades are only a mix of primary colors (Red, Blue, Green). Depending on what shade is needed the RGB are mixed in proportion to produce the required shade. Its a computer controlled process, without any variation, hence the same shade across batches looks the same.

For metallic options a mixture of silica fleks are added to produce the shine and metallic look.

Sir, I was not talking about the painting process but operations, including scheduling, inventory management, materials management (in case of two wheelers, many tier i s do the painting and supply finished parts) etc.

Lot of pain for little gain for them.