Team-BHP (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/)

-   The Indian Car Scene (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/)

-   -   Why don't manufacturers offer a matte finish from the factory? (https://www.team-bhp.com/forum/indian-car-scene/191711-why-dont-manufacturers-offer-matte-finish-factory.html)

This question always keeps intriguing me- why manufacturers do not offer matte finish color option for cars? While I agree it is difficult to maintain, expensive, there is a decent enough market(Or I might be wrong). Atleast in two wheeler market I know of couple of people who bought Dio,Apache etc. just because they wanted Matte grey. There are wraps, but a factory painted would be something else. The case don't seem to be different in other countries as well. Some manufacturers charge a premium for metallic finish, so why they can't do same with matte finish. A matte color on a hatchback like say Polo,Baleno would look killer.

Does this not look cool?

Matte finish paint jobs are a nightmare to maintain, even a small swirl/scratch will stand out.
And they are expensive too.

BMW surely had a matte finish paint job on offer, for the M3. It was very expensive.

Matte is just a dull look for a car in general. The percentage who like matte are way lower than regular colors. It may change but i do not think a regular car buyer wants to see a car that is not shining bright at the time of delivery and looks actually dull compared to the metallic neighbor.

Secondly matte is not cost effective to start with as well as to maintain on the long run. Cost is the most important factor to stick to regular paint. Actually cost is primary and choice is secondary in my post :)

This question is something I had in my mind too from many days.
When we purchased a Vespa S125, we bought it only because it had a matte black. Or else we would've gone for Vespa VX125. Dio in matte black looks very nice.

For my previous car (Punto), I always was thinking of a matte black wrap but it was out of my reach most of the times, if it was offered by the manufacturer itself, I would've grabbed it. I had something like the below picture in my mind. Same holds good for my current GT TSI.


I could think of the following reasons why manufacturers don't offer matte shades.
1. it's difficult to maintain, but so are all dark colours metallic/glossy or otherwise.
2. Years ago, Indians hardly purchased Black cars, which is why it took long time for MS to come up with a black shade. However that has changed now. Similarly Matte shade on a car is not liked by many even today. with two wheelers in Matte shade available now, I hope someday this is available for the cars too.
3. Also, Not all matte shades look good. If the colour shade isn't well thought of (especially black and grey shades), the car looks like a carved out block of concrete.

Difficult to maintain -I agree, but expensive-I don't think so. Honda sells Activa/Dio Matte finish at same cost(or few thousands more?) as regular shade and so does TVS. Toyota charges 10K more for pearl effect white and I think interested people won't mind spending 10-20K extra for matte which gives you exclusivity.
Matte is sober looking, but hey don't we love the sober timeless looking VW's?

I think as mentioned already it is very difficult to maintain especially in Indian traffic conditions. When we bought our Matt red vespa I had told my wife to be double careful especially in parking lot as a tiny scratch also is difficult to get removed. And when the inevitable happened last month, I had no other option but to get it covered with some sticker job.

Now imagine the same thing on a car. With the kind of driving you see on the road, 90% of the cars have some scratches (with or without their knowledge). On normal paint, one can mask them to certain extent with detailing but in matt finish cars it would be a challenge. One would be always worried while driving rather than enjoying the drive.

Having said that, there are cars which have been wrapped outside and they look very good. I have drooled on them myself but would I get it done myself, definitely NOT!

One such beautifully wrapped car posted on team bhp itself is here.

For what it's worth, the Force Gurkha is offered in a Matt Black option. Not sure how the finish matches up with other OEM offerings.

Cheers

More than anything else, we Indians have an inclination towards anything that shines and matte doesn't appeal the masses!

I mean, we will have a fraction of owners who will be able to judge the beauty of matte shades while a majority will crib as to why their cars are looking dull despite of a wash.

In short, the takers are less for matte apart from the usual concerns around maintaining it.

Its a myth that matte colors are difficult to maintain. It depends on how have you painted your car. Some painters are stupid enough to just paint it matte and apply no clear coat. This is totally useless and you cant clean it.

Second method is painting with a matte clear coat. Its just like a normal paint and you can wash it as well as shampoo and polish it. Its very easy to maintain.

Matte Paints and Finishes - Are more abrasive as compared to their glossy counterparts.
As far as my experience even terms of application a Matt paint job would require higher skill in paining as well as maintenance. Moreover, the water quality with which we take care of our car also has higher salts, minerals and abrasive which destroy the quality of the paint.

In gloss, when a part get damaged, a paint color can be matched through rubbing polishing while in matte i think it will be even tougher.

Even bird poop, tree sap and fruit residue if not cleaned on time leaves a mark

No Doubt Matt looks much classier, but very costly to have and maintain.

Couple of reasons why we don't have Matte Black -

1) Out of the 56,000 cars listed on Carwale.com, only about 5% of them are black. There is very little demand for black colour. So obviously, it doesn't make sense for a manufacturer to introduce a different finish/variant of black into the market.



2) There are probably a million colour variations. A car manufacturer cannot afford to ignore the basic colours and introduce a variant/finish of a basic colour

From the list black is is 4th preferred color ahead of red. And I am looking at Matte finish in general and not just black. Look at the number of Jupiter/Dio in matte grey. Some two wheeler's offer Matte red and blue as well.
Manufacturers don't hesitate to launch a performance hatch(ex: Polo GTi/Abarth) which hardly anyone buy but not sure whats hindering them from offering matte finish paint.

I am not even sure if it is an apple to apple comparison. Just google a bit and you will understand the work, time and cost required to maintain a matte finish. Is there enough demand to set up a special paint floor in the manufacturing line for a car, is a big question that manufacturers will always ponder.

Matte finish cars are usually high end cars where the extra cost can be recovered from the buyers.

A Polo TSI selling say at 8L and asking 9L for the matte finish in practical situations wont move any numbers substantial to invest at a production line.

I still feel if we place an order for a matte finished car, they will pick a standard car from the production line and repaint the surface with matte finish as a one time job. Similar to someone repainting a car after say 10 years of ownership.

Dio or TVS probably sell enough numbers to set up a production line that does matte finish.

I personally, am not paying 1L more for just a matte finish of the car i want. The way i maintain my car exterior, i usually have glossy car for first 3 years of ownership that turns into matte finish by the 5th year. Win-Win situation :)

Loved your comment buddy.
And I have an Apache which I bought 6 years back only because of the performance & the matte Grey job they had made available.
In the first 4 years all the matte shade was gone and the bike's all glossy and shiny now - even after maintaining it well.

So yes - for Indian conditions paying anything exclusive for a paint job as well as a matte shade is a hard nut.

Regarding matte finish scooters not costing extra, I am sure it's easier to make matte finish plastic rather than coating metal with matte paint, but I am not sure if there is any metal body scooter with matte coat.

Frankly, matte colors won't look too good in flesh for our boring cars, have seen plenty of wrapped cars in flesh (good quality wraps), it just don't cut in for non-exotics or cars that don't have aggressive lines.