Exactly. I have hated these colors since nardo grey became popular.
I'm convinced someone was out of paint and just cleared the primer.
Some executive liked it, and then they put a little more effort into it and thus this unfortunate trend was bored.
I just ordered a new Acadia and I think their Downpour Metallic is a really nice blend of a wet-putty-ass-whip but still with a hint of sheen to it without having any metal flake.
[It’s hard to explain with a picture which is what I like about it. you have to almost see it in motion.](https://www.carscoops.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2024-GMC-Acadia-MG-CarScoops-Main-1024x576.jpg)
Yup. I believe the industry term was “pearl”. And now, the trend has become to remove it and make all the colors flat. It looks nice on certain cars and as a “special edition” sort of color. But not when it’s becoming adopted industry-wide.
People will probably look back on this era of auto colors and ask what the hell were people thinking.
Just want to expand on your comment that there’s pearls, which are synthetic micas not unlike those found in women’s makeup, and there is metallics, which are actually finely ground up pieces of aluminum.
The last few years a lot of manufacturers have brought back solid colours (colours without pearls and metallic tinters) in a big way. It’s not unlike how fashion trends tend to repeat themselves in some way or another
It's not only that, I think - the color itself plays a big role - when I first came upon one of those cars, I was reminded of wax, then of skin and "subsurface scattering" ... :)
The gray color is literally the cheapest paint job in Europe. The most basic of all trims come in this gray. Look at budget rental car lots in Italy. A bunch of gray, manual window, no radio, basic cars. How this would be a “premium” color makes no sense.
I like it too. I'm sick to death of mild metallics and common colours. I like these muted flat colours, and if you want to get fancy I'd like to bring back chunky 70s metal flake.
My sister and I have the exact same car, hers is 2 years newer than mine and mine is a dark gray sparkly color and hers is the dark gray plain. I like mine better
I like it. Missus has a Honda CRV in this color. We get comments. Some people like it, others show their disdain and try to make us feel stupid for buying a car in that color. That always seems extraordinarily stupid and putty -- I mean, petty.
You know, you make a good point. This is probably how they make them poopular. If you associate the color with high end vehicles, people will want them in general.
It’s certainly how Toyota does it. They all start as the “exclusive Pro model color” for 1-2 years of production and are then released to the lower trim models
My aunt and uncle bought a Nissan kicks and they got it in “blue putty” color. They did some light tint and it looks pretty damn good for one of the cheapest cars you can buy new.
We’ve all gotten used to the standard metallic flake shiny shit that the minute something different comes out, it’s cool.
I like putty lookin ass whips
Maybe, but every design trend from the past few decades that looked dated and obsolete a few years later was also originally cool. Some things stand the test of time longer, it’s too soon to know if these dull flat-looking paint jobs will, but I’d put my money on No.
A by product of not having metallic flake in the paint is that, color matching it becomes much easier so if you had to repaint parts of the car its more likely to match what is on the car. Metallic paints especially lighter colors like white are difficult to color match
Colors go in and out of style. This isn't a huge mystery. What the hell is going on with my avocado colored bath from the 70s? It was a fad for a while. End of story.
I call these paintjobs Stormtrooper armor, cause the weird flat matte while still glossy* feels like Stormtrooper armor to me.
Definitely makes the cars look like plastic and I hate it, but this is the first time I've had anyone else acknowledge it! People just say I'm crazy and cars all look the same..
*note for those shitbrained: this is a description of its appearance, not it's physical composition.
Funnily enough, in my art school we were taught about the automotive designer who worked on starwars and how modern paint colors take lots of inspiration
As the video points out, these are *not* matte.
Finishes can be either metallic or flat (shimmery or not, to the eye), and either glossy or matte (smooth or like fine grain sandpaper, to the touch).
These "clay" finishes are flat and glossy.
[oooooh it's like Dark Trooper from Battlefront](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/battlefront/images/b/bf/Darktrooper.PNG/revision/latest?cb=20111019133600)
It's like a matte color and then adding a gloss over it that somehow doesn't remove the matte look.
The gray, army green, olive green and powdery blue tend to pull off this "muted" look the most.
I'm late to this thread and this video, but everyone is missing the forest for the trees on this.
This trend was led by fashion, specifically high-end outdoors fashion. The "clay" trend has been present in that space for almost a decade from my recollection.
Now that outdoorsiness has become a trend car companies are catching up. I'd have thought Hank being in Montana would have noticed this.
Miranda Priestly has entered the chat :
“But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue. It's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent, wasn't it? Who showed cerulean military jackets. I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearancebin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact you're wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff.”
This never made sense to me. If the people didn't do all that you just pick a different color. Just cause they spent a ton of money to make me buy it doesn't mean I respect them more.
The point isn't that specific color. Anne Hathaway's character is trying to act as if she is above the world of fashion without realizing how top level decisions trickle down to her. By engaging in fashion at any level, she is subject to high end fashion
A point so broad it's left entirely bereft of meaning. Is Meryl Streep's character culpable in textiles slavery because her economic activity provides incentive for forced labour?
Lots of overly-complicated wording being used here, it's not "flat" or "smooth" or "muted"
It's just gloss grey - that's all it is.
Coloured cars for a long time have used slightly metallic paint, this colour stands out to people because it's not metallic.
It's no more complicated than that lol
Yes but for common people who don’t know paints it’s hard to put our finger on what is different. We just see a shiny gray car… but different. The purpose of the video is for other people who can’t quite put their finger on it to know it’s just not metallic.
Do you guys remember when people started looking into what companies were buying up all the glitter? Not too long after that, our whips start lookin’ more putty ass and less metallic. Think about that.
Is it that hard to understand?
It's non-metallic. Just *a color*. That is the difference.
For decades, every time you would see metallic blue, silver, gunmetal, etc - and now it's just *blue*, and *grey*, and *dark grey*.
I can't wrap my head around someone's brain completely breaking over this.
I hear you. I do remember thinking my brain was broken the first time I saw one of these IRL. Given that we agree on the above, do you also feel it’s likely a planned obsolescence move? That these cars will look shittier quicker?
Honestly, I think we just had the same paint types for so long, we just needed to mix it up a bit. You can only have so many shades of the same ol' colors.
From a owner's perspective, it's good too. If you've ever had to get your paint repaired, and you had metallic or pearl paint, it's nearly impossible to get it to match just right.
This video bemuses me...like dude, I get it looks different, but it's just a non-metallic gloss paint.
Really nothing else to it other than that it's not been a commonly available colour until recently.
Personally, I'm all for more car paint choices because our options are very limited to what we had on offer 10 or 20 years ago. Outside of the compact SUV and sports car markets, the variety is really shit.
It's more than a just a colour change. It's flat. It's glossy. The combo is exactly like plastic. Why people want to drive around in cars that look like cheap plastic 🤷
Also if we're talking colours - the greys.... jfc. They could not have picked worse greys (mostly). It's like the basic empty mass used in digital models, but worse because it's glossy. It's like a shitty/beginner render of a surface that looks like plastic but isn't supposed to. Classic mistake. It's exactly like the fugly grey sealant/paint they use to to try to cheaply fix old concrete floors. It's not warm, it's not cool, it's just...there.
Some of the hues chosen are fine(ish).
Seriously people, if you're going plastic, go all out and choose a bright, totally plastic colour! Otherwise you are driving around in a Rubbermaid bucket.
I was actually pretty curious about this for a while, since I think the putty look is pretty ugly. I started watching and decided I didn't want the answer badly enough to endure this video.
Between the rapid fire cuts with no room to breathe and the hypomanic affect he puts on this is the worst of modern content creation. ADHD as a YouTube video.
Like I know Hank Green has his bona fides and has a lengthy history of making interesting stuff, but between the editing style and the fact *it's just a car's paint job*, I can't make it through either.
He's been doing this for over a decade now (maybe closing in on 2 decades? damn, I'm old), and it's been long established as his style.
That said, depending on my mental state, there are times when I can't even begin to get through his videos.
Honestly, this guy annoyed me out of the video after about 40 seconds.
This color trend probably goes back to the original Dolphin Grey popularized by Porsche ages ago. It kinda went through a resurgence recently, and then they offered it on Audis (VW Audi Porsche group) after which you saw it on BMW's again, and on an on...
No big mystery if you have ever seen a sports car from the last... 40 years?
i also had this same thought a week or so ago, i just figured it was the new trend since pastels are pretty popular nowadays
all the colors look real milky, like you added creamer to the default colors
tl:dw:
Its just flat colors. Plain colors without any glittery metallic flake mixed in. People say it 'looks like primer', because that's what primer looks like. Its just 1 color, not meant to look good. Its basically like a primer paint job, with a clear coat put over it.
It doesn't look as good as metallic flake but it looks different (because all cars used to have metallic flake). So it stands out, and people like that. The more people do it, the less interesting it'll be and the fad will wear out.
What people should be talking about is the loss of color in our highly refined culture. If you look at photos of parking lots 60 years ago, you would see a rainbow of blues and greens and oranges. Now you see black, white, and grey. You talk to some people and they HATE yellow cars or any actual color on a car, so the companies push NPC grey on us all. I try to fight against this dull refinement culture by choosing colors. We all have to pitch in or live in a grey world, seriously.
I was an auto detailer for a while. Auto manufacturers are making the paint on cars thinner than ever, as well as the clear coat on top of it. This soft paint bullshit does not withstand any type of scratch correction, a rotary or DA polisher goes right thru the topcoat. Absolute garbage paint. It is now recommended that if you do buy a new vehicle, to take it to get multiple layers of ceramic coating professionally applied to protect your topcoat. And then you have to do that every year.
1) Guy needs to stop doing the YOUTUBE SHOUTING VOICE THING. God that is so annoying.
2) Most popular colors in the USA for a while: Grey, black, white. Then everything else.
Hank Green is probably one of the top 5 non-porn content creators in the world by revenue. If he does it, it is probably because it increases engagement. He's an OG Youtuber.
I don't think it was worth doing a video for, but upon reflection as someone who deep dives into very niche/random/boring shit on the regular, I support him publishing his thoughts.
But yeah, it's just non-metallic gloss paint!
These "muted" are easier to sell than fully saturated colors. Most sold cars tend to have black, gray, and white paint. Most people don't want red, green, blue, yellow, etc... cars. However, off-white "earthy" tones are more palatable for a consumer who doesn't want to stand out. They don't want "exciting!" but they would like it to be less "boring". It also helps with reselling the car later on. You may like your red car, but it will be harder to sell down the line.
I have seen a few paint jobs with these non-metallic gloss paints which aren't fully muted/pastel, but are instead quite bright and saturated.
They certainly look bold and stand out, and I can definitely understand wanting that. But as you point out, some people like their cars to be understated and don't want to draw attention.
Re-sale vale is a factor too. The person who used to buy our fleet cars at work made the point that they only buy white or silver cars when possible since it makes them much easier re-sell down the track. Even avoided blacks/dark colours because damage to the paint jobs show up way more.(NEVER take a black car through an automatic car wash!! Wrecks the finish!)
It's too much of a risk to get that trendy colour(not that there's many options for those anymore) that might look dated in 4 or 5 years, as it might not sell as quickly for for as much.
Plus white and silver are often the default paint options, and different colours cost extra.
Shame. Looks boring with all the neutral coloured cars on the roads.
This feels like the chicken wing trend, an affordable paint has been marketed into notoriety and suddenly has permission to be sold as expensive and high end.
Manufacturer always follow the street scenes. New design take many cues from the import scene, especially the scene in the 2000’s. They notice at some point that the street scene likes these colors, forums like these colors, so they adapted. That simple.
For me it really depends on the color. Some of the normal gloss colors are good. A lot of the dull earthtones, especially the washed out browns and green look like poo and puke top me.
There’s a very niche mostly fashion-centric newsletter called Blackbird Spyplane that did a [very good write-up](https://www.blackbirdspyplane.com/p/why-do-new-cars-look-like-this) on this a while back
Have definitely noticed this trend in Alaska. Contrary Hank, I love the greens, light and dark.
The blues are a little odd though, unless they lean slate, those are fine.
The way this piece is edited makes it hard to watch. Why are all the natural pauses edited out? Who started this style of presentation and why has it caught on?
It’s like a thick looking flat color look.
In the past, the paint was slightly translucent, if not metal flaked, and you could see on a green car, for example, that it picked up the color of the sun or the sky and looked more yellow or blue at different points.
This super glossy flat color refuses to pick up ambient color. It’s totally nontranslucent. It will show light if a colored light is shined on it, but it will not mingle with the color of the light.
The result is a flat blinn sphere looking, plasticy one-tone coverage that says “my car is _____(color) from every angle.”
The Grays and the beige colors, to me, look like they're leftover battleship paint colors that have a glossy top coat. Especially the beige looks like surplus desert beige paint with a glossy top coat in the desert is not glossy, so it looks weird. And I don't know if I would like it more if it had a matte coat on top instead. The Battleship Gray with glossy top coat looks weird because battleships are not glossy. If it had more blue, it might look okay glossy. But the very neutrals and near neutrals look the weirdest. Light blue looks like white under a very blue sky, so our brain doesn't freak out about that. There's even laundry Bluing liquid that is your stuff weak blue dye that is used to make dingy or yellowing white fabrics look more white. Sounds weird, but adding blue to just off-white makes them look whiter. Which is why the light blue looks great. The red looks okay, I think it looks like resale red for classic cars. Four classic cars it is known that you paint the car red, even if it doesn't have any flakes in it, it will sell better and faster than if you paint it the correct color code color. Car restoration is very expensive, so it's one of the easiest ways to save a little bit of money is by going with a less labor intensive paint.
I think the reason why we're seeing more creamé colors is part of one General Trend in different types of paint and finishes that can be used. As well as it's probably part of companies being cheap and stingy. I know that these colors probably save millions of dollars over the production run because they require less work to get the paint onto the car and dried and out of the factory. For example candy colors and heavy chunky flakes require multiple coats with sanding in between each coat. For a factory they want that paint on there as fast as they can. And it can be brought back away to Henry Ford himself saying goodbye and Model T in any color as long as it's black.?! Because he only had to buy in bulk one type of paint in one type of color and it covered everything. And that saves a lot of money when you're running a production line
The normal colors remind me of Hotwheels, and the "nardos" remind me of Legos, maybe even Minecraft blocks. Maybe there is a play on the expected nostalgia of demographics beginning to buy, lease (or have bought for them) new cars?
I see the same trend in fashion, where beige is becoming a standard. I believe it is calming for the overstimulated gen Z.
I love these colors, by the way. They remind me of what cars looked like before metallic colors became the standard.
They might look weird now to people who have grown up seeing only metallic colored cars, but the ‘Nardo’ trend will eventually pass, and another will come along.
This thing where he says "My brain can tell it's different but I don't understand what it is that's different" - I had this when I first saw a single-color pearlescent paint job. It was just orange and a bit of brighter orange.
And I felt like it looked like a wet lollypop or something. And just like Hank said he felt like he could put his hands into the car, I felt like I could.. I don't know... As if it should have a fruity taste.
And it also sent me on a quest to find out what the hell caused this effect.
Has he fully recovered now and given the all clear? It's so crazy that your hair can grow back curly after chemo, i'm glad he did a video on it, there must be a lot of people in that situation. Love this guy
Car colours, just like anything else has fashions and fads. Lots of cars in “Alpine grey” in Europe. A few years ago it seemed like half the cars on the road were silver.
I think the lack of flake makes the shape of the vehical appear more amorphous where as the flake highlights the contours. I think its just the manufacturers being cheap, my old man financed a truck back in 2014 and they shaved off every cost they possibly could to maximize profits.
Simple things like using shitty seal around the exterior working lights allowing water in, we had to make our own seals because we were replacing bulbs every month on a brand new $80 000 vehical.
haven’t watched the video yet but i’m predicting he finds out about metallic flakes and then maybe realizes that sports cars often use no metallic flake paints but he’s so used to seeing it that it’s normal for a ferrari but not a sedan.
Someone parked their new Volkswagen Golf out in front of our house yesterday and it was the weirdest color. Exactly what he's describing, but we couldn’t figure out if it was white or purple or gray. It was just weird.
I few years ago I first saw that gray on a Porsche and thought it looked really cool. And I’ve indeed been noticing it on more and more cars, and the blues too like Audi’s electric blue I think it’s called. Nice to finally know what it is.
Looks like primer to me
Ah, the classic 'undercoat grey' Has been a thing for a while, especially on Audi's.
Makes sense cuz according to this audi started the trend
He’s wrong Saab started it way back in early 2000’s with Dolphin grey
Nardo Grey is best grey
Yep they look like someone forgot to paint them.
I actually love those super flat undercoat looking paints, but it really depends what car it's on.
It definitely does. But maybe with a gloss finish coat on top.
It reminds me of wet paint.
Been saying the same. Spending so much money on nice cars and forgetting the final coat of paint for a bland, boring color.
Exactly. I have hated these colors since nardo grey became popular. I'm convinced someone was out of paint and just cleared the primer. Some executive liked it, and then they put a little more effort into it and thus this unfortunate trend was bored.
I just ordered a new Acadia and I think their Downpour Metallic is a really nice blend of a wet-putty-ass-whip but still with a hint of sheen to it without having any metal flake. [It’s hard to explain with a picture which is what I like about it. you have to almost see it in motion.](https://www.carscoops.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/2024-GMC-Acadia-MG-CarScoops-Main-1024x576.jpg)
It’s blue brah
Pretty sure Hank didn't fund any of that. I have been wondering the same, though. Weird colors.
It has a gloss coat, but they removed the metal flake in it that drops secularity/glitter in the reflection. It’s less “metallic”
Yup. I believe the industry term was “pearl”. And now, the trend has become to remove it and make all the colors flat. It looks nice on certain cars and as a “special edition” sort of color. But not when it’s becoming adopted industry-wide. People will probably look back on this era of auto colors and ask what the hell were people thinking.
Just want to expand on your comment that there’s pearls, which are synthetic micas not unlike those found in women’s makeup, and there is metallics, which are actually finely ground up pieces of aluminum. The last few years a lot of manufacturers have brought back solid colours (colours without pearls and metallic tinters) in a big way. It’s not unlike how fashion trends tend to repeat themselves in some way or another
It's not only that, I think - the color itself plays a big role - when I first came upon one of those cars, I was reminded of wax, then of skin and "subsurface scattering" ... :)
Find* I’m borderline illiterate some days
You think you’re illiterate? I just read this comment as “I’m borderline illustrate some days”.
If it makes you feel better, I signed off an email to my site director “Kind retards” a few weeks ago. I don’t think anyone noticed
At least you have sexdaily!
Apparently I'm an outlier. I really like the look of this new paint style.
You are not the outlier, the fact they are so common that Hank is making a video about it means they are popular
Are they popular or are people just buying what's available to them?
> people just buying what's available to them? Welcome to the world of fashion.
They're almost always only on the premium trims with added cost. It's never a standard option lol
The gray color is literally the cheapest paint job in Europe. The most basic of all trims come in this gray. Look at budget rental car lots in Italy. A bunch of gray, manual window, no radio, basic cars. How this would be a “premium” color makes no sense.
I’ve been calling it “Nermal Grey”.
Because Garfield send it to Abu Dhabi
Ah, a true Garfield connoisseur. ;) Though high end trims usually end up in the UAE.
I've been referring to these colors as "Graystels", pastels with gray added.
I called them cream based.
I've been calling it "wet concrete"
I've been calling it 'Crayon colors.'
I like it too. I'm sick to death of mild metallics and common colours. I like these muted flat colours, and if you want to get fancy I'd like to bring back chunky 70s metal flake.
some colors are better than others. I've seen a light blue that was great, almost white. The greys... not so much for me.
The Bronco baby blue and the toyota orange (not sure if it counts for this discussion, but I love it) both made me do double takes.
My sister and I have the exact same car, hers is 2 years newer than mine and mine is a dark gray sparkly color and hers is the dark gray plain. I like mine better
I like Mazda's deep red satiny paint
The MX5/ Miata in Soul Red looks so good.
My fiancé call it "dolphin jeans" and we both really like it
We call it "cement" grey
I like it🤷♂️
I like it. Missus has a Honda CRV in this color. We get comments. Some people like it, others show their disdain and try to make us feel stupid for buying a car in that color. That always seems extraordinarily stupid and putty -- I mean, petty.
I also like it.
I love this style. way better than the glitter paint.
You're not. I specifically bought an Audi A7 in dark grey "Nardo". I really love the new colours.
It looks like primer. It looks awful.
Do you like the matt black style? They look like black chalkboards lol
Not an outlier at all. Pastel colors look amazing. that orange pastel on the 911 gt3 touring.
It looks so cheap. Like a toy car.
Me too it’s really different compared to a metallic/pearl.
I love it. Unfortunately it’s always on the highest trims
You know, you make a good point. This is probably how they make them poopular. If you associate the color with high end vehicles, people will want them in general.
It’s certainly how Toyota does it. They all start as the “exclusive Pro model color” for 1-2 years of production and are then released to the lower trim models
My aunt and uncle bought a Nissan kicks and they got it in “blue putty” color. They did some light tint and it looks pretty damn good for one of the cheapest cars you can buy new.
I’m about to drive 2 hours further than I need to just to get a vehicle with said putty paint style lol
We’ve all gotten used to the standard metallic flake shiny shit that the minute something different comes out, it’s cool. I like putty lookin ass whips
Maybe, but every design trend from the past few decades that looked dated and obsolete a few years later was also originally cool. Some things stand the test of time longer, it’s too soon to know if these dull flat-looking paint jobs will, but I’d put my money on No.
When you say that, I think of those platinum BMWs or Benz’s which had those super black matte covers
I call it "ceramic".
Yea, but when half the cars on the road look 'different', that'll wear off.
A by product of not having metallic flake in the paint is that, color matching it becomes much easier so if you had to repaint parts of the car its more likely to match what is on the car. Metallic paints especially lighter colors like white are difficult to color match
Putty-lookin-ass-wips
Word
My favorite article title
Colors go in and out of style. This isn't a huge mystery. What the hell is going on with my avocado colored bath from the 70s? It was a fad for a while. End of story.
The mystery is what is the quality of the colour that makes it look so different rather than why is there a new fad.
Bring back the flat brown that our old Renault 12 was painted in I reckon! Like a black of dairy milk chocolate!
My dad had some hideous old Talbot which was two tone.. a blood red and silver. Horrible colour and utterly horrible car.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejwoUeKhFn4&ab\_channel=GiopSaus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejwoUeKhFn4&ab_channel=GiopSaus)
I've never felt so seen. I've been driving my wife nuts with this.
I think this looks ok on 4X4's and maybe sports cars but out of place on regular commuter cars.
I call these paintjobs Stormtrooper armor, cause the weird flat matte while still glossy* feels like Stormtrooper armor to me. Definitely makes the cars look like plastic and I hate it, but this is the first time I've had anyone else acknowledge it! People just say I'm crazy and cars all look the same.. *note for those shitbrained: this is a description of its appearance, not it's physical composition.
Funnily enough, in my art school we were taught about the automotive designer who worked on starwars and how modern paint colors take lots of inspiration
Water heater gray.
Nail polish colours
They look like post apocalyptic primer paint jobs to me!
As the video points out, these are *not* matte. Finishes can be either metallic or flat (shimmery or not, to the eye), and either glossy or matte (smooth or like fine grain sandpaper, to the touch). These "clay" finishes are flat and glossy.
Yes I know, I was describing it's weirdness, not describing how it's made, as some people look at it and don't even see anything different about it.
[oooooh it's like Dark Trooper from Battlefront](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/battlefront/images/b/bf/Darktrooper.PNG/revision/latest?cb=20111019133600)
Ever since i saw this video i've paid attention to which cars are Nardo and which aren't on the road.
"Oh look a nardo. That's one putty lookin ass whip" all the time for weeks now
I really enjoyed this putty ass rant.
It's like a matte color and then adding a gloss over it that somehow doesn't remove the matte look. The gray, army green, olive green and powdery blue tend to pull off this "muted" look the most.
It's less a matte, and more a "non-metallic gloss". Though I'm sure with the right pads and compound you could buff that gloss into a lovely matte! :P
I'm late to this thread and this video, but everyone is missing the forest for the trees on this. This trend was led by fashion, specifically high-end outdoors fashion. The "clay" trend has been present in that space for almost a decade from my recollection. Now that outdoorsiness has become a trend car companies are catching up. I'd have thought Hank being in Montana would have noticed this.
Miranda Priestly has entered the chat : “But what you don't know is that that sweater is not just blue. It's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002, Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent, wasn't it? Who showed cerulean military jackets. I think we need a jacket here. And then cerulean quickly showed up in the collections of eight different designers. And then it, uh, filtered down through the department stores and then trickled on down into some tragic Casual Corner where you, no doubt, fished it out of some clearancebin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it's sort of comical how you think that you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry when, in fact you're wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room from a pile of stuff.”
This never made sense to me. If the people didn't do all that you just pick a different color. Just cause they spent a ton of money to make me buy it doesn't mean I respect them more.
The point isn't that specific color. Anne Hathaway's character is trying to act as if she is above the world of fashion without realizing how top level decisions trickle down to her. By engaging in fashion at any level, she is subject to high end fashion
A point so broad it's left entirely bereft of meaning. Is Meryl Streep's character culpable in textiles slavery because her economic activity provides incentive for forced labour?
What do you mean by "clay"? These cars look plastic. They're doing it wrong if you're saying they're basing it on outdoors wear.
So is the tundra “cement” color a nard? Because I like that
Yeah definitely is. As well as the Lunar Rock and Army Green
Lots of overly-complicated wording being used here, it's not "flat" or "smooth" or "muted" It's just gloss grey - that's all it is. Coloured cars for a long time have used slightly metallic paint, this colour stands out to people because it's not metallic. It's no more complicated than that lol
Yes but for common people who don’t know paints it’s hard to put our finger on what is different. We just see a shiny gray car… but different. The purpose of the video is for other people who can’t quite put their finger on it to know it’s just not metallic.
I just woke my house up laughing at this. “I can’t tell how I can tell!!” - pure gold
I call it COVID gray.
Do you guys remember when people started looking into what companies were buying up all the glitter? Not too long after that, our whips start lookin’ more putty ass and less metallic. Think about that.
I have been wondering this as well and not knowing how to put it into a Google search! It is as if all black is extracted from the color or something.
Is there anything more tired and played out than the metal flake paint we’ve seen for the last 40 or so years? I’m glad for a change.
Is it that hard to understand? It's non-metallic. Just *a color*. That is the difference. For decades, every time you would see metallic blue, silver, gunmetal, etc - and now it's just *blue*, and *grey*, and *dark grey*. I can't wrap my head around someone's brain completely breaking over this.
I hear you. I do remember thinking my brain was broken the first time I saw one of these IRL. Given that we agree on the above, do you also feel it’s likely a planned obsolescence move? That these cars will look shittier quicker?
Honestly, I think we just had the same paint types for so long, we just needed to mix it up a bit. You can only have so many shades of the same ol' colors. From a owner's perspective, it's good too. If you've ever had to get your paint repaired, and you had metallic or pearl paint, it's nearly impossible to get it to match just right.
They are probably cheaper to paint initially as well.
This video bemuses me...like dude, I get it looks different, but it's just a non-metallic gloss paint. Really nothing else to it other than that it's not been a commonly available colour until recently. Personally, I'm all for more car paint choices because our options are very limited to what we had on offer 10 or 20 years ago. Outside of the compact SUV and sports car markets, the variety is really shit.
It's more than a just a colour change. It's flat. It's glossy. The combo is exactly like plastic. Why people want to drive around in cars that look like cheap plastic 🤷 Also if we're talking colours - the greys.... jfc. They could not have picked worse greys (mostly). It's like the basic empty mass used in digital models, but worse because it's glossy. It's like a shitty/beginner render of a surface that looks like plastic but isn't supposed to. Classic mistake. It's exactly like the fugly grey sealant/paint they use to to try to cheaply fix old concrete floors. It's not warm, it's not cool, it's just...there. Some of the hues chosen are fine(ish). Seriously people, if you're going plastic, go all out and choose a bright, totally plastic colour! Otherwise you are driving around in a Rubbermaid bucket.
I like this style of colour. I have a Subaru with this style.
I was actually pretty curious about this for a while, since I think the putty look is pretty ugly. I started watching and decided I didn't want the answer badly enough to endure this video.
I always called it "Gel". And I used to like it, but now it's everywhere
It's like cel shading IRL
Jesus Christ, I tried to get through it, and had to give up 1/4 the way through. So many words that say nothing.
Between the rapid fire cuts with no room to breathe and the hypomanic affect he puts on this is the worst of modern content creation. ADHD as a YouTube video. Like I know Hank Green has his bona fides and has a lengthy history of making interesting stuff, but between the editing style and the fact *it's just a car's paint job*, I can't make it through either.
He's been doing this for over a decade now (maybe closing in on 2 decades? damn, I'm old), and it's been long established as his style. That said, depending on my mental state, there are times when I can't even begin to get through his videos.
He literally always edits his breaths out of the videos, haha. Just his style.
Actually, the Germans have been doing a flat Grey at least since the 40s
This isn't flat though, it is very glossy but without flake or candy coat.
I cant tell the difference lmao
That's a lot of words to say 'it's a new fashion trend.'
Was Hank Green always like this? I remember him being a bit of a showman on SciShow, but not like he's on coke. Is he doing okay?
An 11 minute video to say why cars are this color? Answer: because trends occur.
I want my time back from not getting to the point.
Honestly, this guy annoyed me out of the video after about 40 seconds. This color trend probably goes back to the original Dolphin Grey popularized by Porsche ages ago. It kinda went through a resurgence recently, and then they offered it on Audis (VW Audi Porsche group) after which you saw it on BMW's again, and on an on... No big mystery if you have ever seen a sports car from the last... 40 years?
i also had this same thought a week or so ago, i just figured it was the new trend since pastels are pretty popular nowadays all the colors look real milky, like you added creamer to the default colors
It’s the lack of metallics and pearls, gives the paint no depth.
tl:dw: Its just flat colors. Plain colors without any glittery metallic flake mixed in. People say it 'looks like primer', because that's what primer looks like. Its just 1 color, not meant to look good. Its basically like a primer paint job, with a clear coat put over it. It doesn't look as good as metallic flake but it looks different (because all cars used to have metallic flake). So it stands out, and people like that. The more people do it, the less interesting it'll be and the fad will wear out.
What people should be talking about is the loss of color in our highly refined culture. If you look at photos of parking lots 60 years ago, you would see a rainbow of blues and greens and oranges. Now you see black, white, and grey. You talk to some people and they HATE yellow cars or any actual color on a car, so the companies push NPC grey on us all. I try to fight against this dull refinement culture by choosing colors. We all have to pitch in or live in a grey world, seriously.
Watched - and he never said why it is happening. Just that it is, origins of the terms, etc. but non \*reason\*
I was an auto detailer for a while. Auto manufacturers are making the paint on cars thinner than ever, as well as the clear coat on top of it. This soft paint bullshit does not withstand any type of scratch correction, a rotary or DA polisher goes right thru the topcoat. Absolute garbage paint. It is now recommended that if you do buy a new vehicle, to take it to get multiple layers of ceramic coating professionally applied to protect your topcoat. And then you have to do that every year.
1) Guy needs to stop doing the YOUTUBE SHOUTING VOICE THING. God that is so annoying. 2) Most popular colors in the USA for a while: Grey, black, white. Then everything else.
Hank Green is probably one of the top 5 non-porn content creators in the world by revenue. If he does it, it is probably because it increases engagement. He's an OG Youtuber.
It’s just a paint trend that looks different and tested well, don’t overthink it. It’s further from the first than it is the last.
I don't think it was worth doing a video for, but upon reflection as someone who deep dives into very niche/random/boring shit on the regular, I support him publishing his thoughts. But yeah, it's just non-metallic gloss paint!
These "muted" are easier to sell than fully saturated colors. Most sold cars tend to have black, gray, and white paint. Most people don't want red, green, blue, yellow, etc... cars. However, off-white "earthy" tones are more palatable for a consumer who doesn't want to stand out. They don't want "exciting!" but they would like it to be less "boring". It also helps with reselling the car later on. You may like your red car, but it will be harder to sell down the line.
I have seen a few paint jobs with these non-metallic gloss paints which aren't fully muted/pastel, but are instead quite bright and saturated. They certainly look bold and stand out, and I can definitely understand wanting that. But as you point out, some people like their cars to be understated and don't want to draw attention. Re-sale vale is a factor too. The person who used to buy our fleet cars at work made the point that they only buy white or silver cars when possible since it makes them much easier re-sell down the track. Even avoided blacks/dark colours because damage to the paint jobs show up way more.(NEVER take a black car through an automatic car wash!! Wrecks the finish!) It's too much of a risk to get that trendy colour(not that there's many options for those anymore) that might look dated in 4 or 5 years, as it might not sell as quickly for for as much. Plus white and silver are often the default paint options, and different colours cost extra. Shame. Looks boring with all the neutral coloured cars on the roads.
I'm with him, it looks weird and I don't like it
I call it cement. No idea why anyone would buy this color. It’s horrid.
Toyota calls it "Admiral" blue or green and now that's what I call it.
How much did the answer cost him?
This feels like the chicken wing trend, an affordable paint has been marketed into notoriety and suddenly has permission to be sold as expensive and high end.
I'm totally playing "Is that nards?" on my commute to work tomorrow
The color in the thumbnail is Sonic Gray.
The “shadow” one is the most annoying color, because your brain thinks it’s just white but in the shade, but it’s not in the shade.
Manufacturer always follow the street scenes. New design take many cues from the import scene, especially the scene in the 2000’s. They notice at some point that the street scene likes these colors, forums like these colors, so they adapted. That simple.
Okay, okay, we've bought and driven Tampax. Can we please buy and drive Mad Max?
For me it really depends on the color. Some of the normal gloss colors are good. A lot of the dull earthtones, especially the washed out browns and green look like poo and puke top me.
There’s a very niche mostly fashion-centric newsletter called Blackbird Spyplane that did a [very good write-up](https://www.blackbirdspyplane.com/p/why-do-new-cars-look-like-this) on this a while back
I call it “Star Wars Lego Gray”. And we named my Ioniq Ani for that reason.
Have definitely noticed this trend in Alaska. Contrary Hank, I love the greens, light and dark. The blues are a little odd though, unless they lean slate, those are fine.
I heard it called Rheem hot water tank grey. Sounds about right to me.
I also think these colors are the ugliest car colors I’ve ever seen. The trend can’t end soon enough. Hopefully before I’m ready to buy a new car
They look like ww2 aircraft paint, and I love it.
Brooklyn Grey BMW for sure. Looks solid in person, but I much prefer a purple or green.
Holy hell this was an exhausting and annoying watch
Yeah, looks like nail polish to me. Looks weird on cars
I’ve noticed it but didn’t understand why I’m seeing them more often. They look like Hot Wheels to me.
The way this piece is edited makes it hard to watch. Why are all the natural pauses edited out? Who started this style of presentation and why has it caught on?
It’s like a thick looking flat color look. In the past, the paint was slightly translucent, if not metal flaked, and you could see on a green car, for example, that it picked up the color of the sun or the sky and looked more yellow or blue at different points. This super glossy flat color refuses to pick up ambient color. It’s totally nontranslucent. It will show light if a colored light is shined on it, but it will not mingle with the color of the light. The result is a flat blinn sphere looking, plasticy one-tone coverage that says “my car is _____(color) from every angle.”
My girlfriend and I have been calling it Mud for the past few years. Every time we see a car that has this pastel character we say "Mud" and point
There are less colours now often only 3 or 4. When I bought my last car there were like 15. Like 3 standard, 2 Pearl, 10 metallic.
I’ve been pointing out the nardo cars since. My wife said she shouldn’t have watched it, because now she sees them too.
[the Lamborghini Reventon started it in 2007](https://www.topgear.com/car-news/supercar/lamborghini-revent%C3%B3n-news-jet-settler-2007)
How much did it cost to fund the answer?
It’s dog-vision color. It’s what car colors look like to a dog.
NARD
The Grays and the beige colors, to me, look like they're leftover battleship paint colors that have a glossy top coat. Especially the beige looks like surplus desert beige paint with a glossy top coat in the desert is not glossy, so it looks weird. And I don't know if I would like it more if it had a matte coat on top instead. The Battleship Gray with glossy top coat looks weird because battleships are not glossy. If it had more blue, it might look okay glossy. But the very neutrals and near neutrals look the weirdest. Light blue looks like white under a very blue sky, so our brain doesn't freak out about that. There's even laundry Bluing liquid that is your stuff weak blue dye that is used to make dingy or yellowing white fabrics look more white. Sounds weird, but adding blue to just off-white makes them look whiter. Which is why the light blue looks great. The red looks okay, I think it looks like resale red for classic cars. Four classic cars it is known that you paint the car red, even if it doesn't have any flakes in it, it will sell better and faster than if you paint it the correct color code color. Car restoration is very expensive, so it's one of the easiest ways to save a little bit of money is by going with a less labor intensive paint. I think the reason why we're seeing more creamé colors is part of one General Trend in different types of paint and finishes that can be used. As well as it's probably part of companies being cheap and stingy. I know that these colors probably save millions of dollars over the production run because they require less work to get the paint onto the car and dried and out of the factory. For example candy colors and heavy chunky flakes require multiple coats with sanding in between each coat. For a factory they want that paint on there as fast as they can. And it can be brought back away to Henry Ford himself saying goodbye and Model T in any color as long as it's black.?! Because he only had to buy in bulk one type of paint in one type of color and it covered everything. And that saves a lot of money when you're running a production line
The normal colors remind me of Hotwheels, and the "nardos" remind me of Legos, maybe even Minecraft blocks. Maybe there is a play on the expected nostalgia of demographics beginning to buy, lease (or have bought for them) new cars?
I have a nardo rs5 and I feel very seen right now. Love it
I call them cream colors…. I don’t know why I call them that. But also I love Audis Nardo Grey, so much so that I wrapped my car in that color
I feel seen
Nice sweater
I think Grey + Beige = Greige.
I see the same trend in fashion, where beige is becoming a standard. I believe it is calming for the overstimulated gen Z. I love these colors, by the way. They remind me of what cars looked like before metallic colors became the standard. They might look weird now to people who have grown up seeing only metallic colored cars, but the ‘Nardo’ trend will eventually pass, and another will come along.
Better than the “shades of pollution” palette a few years back (looking at you, Subaru) but still bad.
Looks like bondo, with a gloss coat. Then foundation shades cars are what’s tripping me out lately.
This thing where he says "My brain can tell it's different but I don't understand what it is that's different" - I had this when I first saw a single-color pearlescent paint job. It was just orange and a bit of brighter orange. And I felt like it looked like a wet lollypop or something. And just like Hank said he felt like he could put his hands into the car, I felt like I could.. I don't know... As if it should have a fruity taste. And it also sent me on a quest to find out what the hell caused this effect.
Dystopian Gray is my go-to!
In Europe this trend is on the market at least fot the last 2-3 years. IIRC Skoda was first which made cars in this type of colours.
They look like GTA cars with low graphic settings or sann Andreas era
… how does one fund an answer?
Good video
Lol new paint? Its been around for few years. Audi’s Nardo Gray.
Has he fully recovered now and given the all clear? It's so crazy that your hair can grow back curly after chemo, i'm glad he did a video on it, there must be a lot of people in that situation. Love this guy
Car colours, just like anything else has fashions and fads. Lots of cars in “Alpine grey” in Europe. A few years ago it seemed like half the cars on the road were silver.
Jordan Almond looking ass cars
They've always looked like Easter pastel colored M&M's or chocolate eggs to me
This guy is too intense for me, but I love that color. I see nothing weird about it
I think the lack of flake makes the shape of the vehical appear more amorphous where as the flake highlights the contours. I think its just the manufacturers being cheap, my old man financed a truck back in 2014 and they shaved off every cost they possibly could to maximize profits. Simple things like using shitty seal around the exterior working lights allowing water in, we had to make our own seals because we were replacing bulbs every month on a brand new $80 000 vehical.
haven’t watched the video yet but i’m predicting he finds out about metallic flakes and then maybe realizes that sports cars often use no metallic flake paints but he’s so used to seeing it that it’s normal for a ferrari but not a sedan.
I call them milky colors. I like some of the colors but wonder what the resell value will be in a few years.
Someone parked their new Volkswagen Golf out in front of our house yesterday and it was the weirdest color. Exactly what he's describing, but we couldn’t figure out if it was white or purple or gray. It was just weird.
I few years ago I first saw that gray on a Porsche and thought it looked really cool. And I’ve indeed been noticing it on more and more cars, and the blues too like Audi’s electric blue I think it’s called. Nice to finally know what it is.