This is why I found no cars of "color" when I was CDI shopping
 

It seems that practically every CDI I found was either silver, grey, or black. A few white ones were available, but very few compared to the others. I could have bought ten silver cars within 500 miles, but not a blue or red one to be found at that time. Out of the fifty or so CDI's that were available online (a couple months ago), only three were red or blue. I have only heard of one in green. I was sent a link that explains the reason why:
Car paint colors: Why are so many cars painted white, silver and black?

This is a very interesting read......Rich

Look around in the parking lot, cars are all in grayscale instead of colors. Good luck finding a car with a decent color on it, it's not easy to do but worth the hunt.

Interesting read for sure. BTW who would buy a flat finish S-class MB in what looks like grey primer of days past, as shown at the end of the article?

Fashions change. Both colors and shapes of body shapes change to indicate "new car". Silver was most popular in 2005. I wouldn't risk buying one of the current fab colors - swamp-green, cow-poop brown - since they might be ridiculed in 15 years as was TV Al Bundy's "Gold Duster". The only bright Mopar color of the early 70's which people appreciate today is the "Plum Crazy" (purple) Challenger. Similarly, every decade car bodies would change from round to square. The current "cross-over SUV" car/minivan look won't last. Jaguar just came out with one, perhaps a bit late to the party.

Re painting, I will use a solid-color, single paint. Clear coats decay to look terrible, as seen in every parking lot in sunny states. Also hard to repair damage to a clear-coat. Metallics are tricky to lay down and match and the metal particles oxidize over time.

Paint color can also be a bargaining chip. When I bought my Accord, I wanted it in the navy blue color they had at the time with a fabric interior and none of the gee-whiz electronic crap that always goes obsolete in 5 minutes. The only color they had on the lot at the time that fit the bill was black. Literally my last color choice. Finally moved on to the point of bargaining, and I told the salesman that if he could prove the A/C could cool the car off by the time we left the lot I'd consider it. He did, I haggled, and they offered a deal I couldn't turn down. Will I have another black car? Probably not, but I'll have this one until the wheels fall off, so it doesn't matter anyway. Got my dark blue on my SDL so I'm happy!

To some extent car colors are driven by what will easily sell on the lot. RE: Colors other than bland will be waiting for a person that specifically wants that color. Given it seems that few cars are built to order these days, a dealer isn't going to stock a bright color waiting for the right person.

Since the dealer isn't buying the more daring colors, the factory drops them.

You are able to buy custom colors but you must buy a min of 5 vehicles and be a fleet buyer.

This is all a big change from 1956 when Mom special ordered a 56 1/2 Plymouth Belvdere 4 door _hard top_ ( not sedan ) in Desoto pink with a white roof / tail fins.

Yes, and if you do see a brown or green, it is a washed out metallic silvery color. My CDI is Desert Silver (looks like champagne), which is on the bottom of my favorite color list. However, since it IS on the list, and I got such a good deal, I bought it. Maybe eventually I will find a blue one that I can afford and sell the one I have now.

A little off topic but to your point here. A few years back I had asked an OEM machine sales person why they did not stock a common part. His answer was they did not sell many. Well when I told him that we use three annually of this
particular piece and buy them where there is not a six week wait, his answer was, I know but can't convince management that the reason was they didn't sell any was they never had them in stock.

I was talking about this very topic with a colleague when we stepped out of the office the other day. There were probably upwards of 30 cars in our parking lot and with the exception of his metallic orange Honda Element, two dark maroon SUV's one dark green and one dark blue truck every single one of those vehicles was Black, white, or various shades in between.

I don't buy the claim that it's paint technology forcing this on manufacturers. There are some cars out there that have actual colors still. Chrysler seems to do the best in this regard, with the toybox colors their jeeps have and I've noticed a few brightly colored Dodge' 200's and others. Fiat too has some interestingly colored 500's.

Just seems that the "marketing" department rules (and probably accounting) keeping the selections to a small sample of the color wheel that's supposed to aid sales and cost less on the production line.

As for the nonsense about base coat clear coat being superior. By choice I would never buy a car with a clear coat in Phoenix. There is nothing worse than a clear coat that's been in the desert for a length of time. Doesn't matter who the manufacturer is they all burst and look like crap eventually.

- Peter.

The Matt silver SLK is freaking awesome, and in truth I would buy that car if it came in textured dog feces...

I guess I would need to see one in person, just thinking of a flagship S Class in matte finish doesn't get me excited.

I don't buy the claim either, at a glance it's some journalist (julia felsenthal) that decided to try her hand in the Automotive world.

Manufacturers plan and research years in advance what colors will be the most popular and order the Gazillions of Gallons of paint that are required to paint all the cars as fast as Detriot can poop them out. I recall that in some cases the chemical compounds required to put say a Yellow Pigment in production paint that meets Air Quality standards can cause some issues as Yellow can be quite translucent. At least that is my recollection of paint.

The modern factory applied paint with clear coats are incredibly good, the surface is so hard and UV tolerant that they hardly even need wax anymore. At least on American cars.

Rattle can (flat finish) always makes me think of spray painting my friends Pinto in high school.

I saw one of the matte black S class in the dealer the other day. It does look like it was painted with a spray can.

Here in Columbia SC, which is the home of the University of SC, their colors are Garnet (deep red) and Black. There are a high number of deep red colored vehicles here.

Of course modern cars are not wet painted, it is electrostatically applied powder coat. The environmental laws have forced this. Only the clear coat is wet applied.

I always hate on Black cars, but somehow they just suck me in.

I end up with whatever color the first owner specified. Except for the 97 C280 I bought for Mom because when she saw my 97 SL320 in 702 Smoke Silver , she stated that it's the only color a Mercedes should be painted. Round these parts, Black is most common, then White , then silver.

When I did paint a car a different color, it was chosen by what was sitting on the paint store odds and ends shelf. Mack Truck Orange on a 1970 FJ-40 Toyota Land Cruiser and a 73 VW type 4 412 wagon. Also in the mix was a metallic blue 70 VW Type 3 square back wagon.