Ford Motor Company is filling its paint color palette for the 2008 model year with some of the trendiest hues, most expressive metallics and its largest color range ever.
“People express themselves in every aspect of their lives – from the hues in which they dress themselves and their homes to the color of vehicles that they drive – so we strive to deliver dynamic and diverse colors,” says Jon Hall, Ford’s lead paint designer. “After all, it’s the paint color that will first connect the customer with a vehicle, so we’re designing the best core colors technology now allows, along with the freshest hues to match the design trends and tastes of our diverse customers.”
Ford designers started developing the 2008 model year paint line-up approximately 36 months ago. They began forecasting fashion, cultural and design trends to deliver the new palette and also worked with top global color forecasters – including Pantone.
The classics are reaching new visual depths for the 2008 model year, and new bright feature colors will emerge as well. But how do Hall and his team know how far is too far on the bolder end of the spectrum?
“We look to various elements of our environment for inspiration about new color trends, including architecture and product design because these items have longevity,” says Hall. “We figure if customers are going to commit to a brightly colored washer and dryer or sofa for instance, they’re apt to also choose a bolder-colored vehicle that will live their driveway for several years.”
Here’s a sampling of some of Ford’s newest hues for the 2008 model year:
“Color of the Year”
Ford is turning up the heat with a custom deep, spicy red – called Candy Apple Red – featured on the 2008 Ford Mustang. Confident and aimed at the design-savvy, this hot hue takes its cue from Chili Pepper, which Pantone named color of the year.
The New Black
For the 2008 model year, black is the new black. Ford has created a new, industry-leading pigment named Tuxedo Black that will launch on the all-new Lincoln MKS flagship sedan. This deep metallic, like a set of jewels, isn’t an ordinary metallic that is composed of mica flakes but instead has a new flake derived from glass. Because this glass pigment radiates such a beautiful sparkle, less of this special flake has to be added, providing a black that glistens like never before.
Eat It Up
Ford’s food-inspired vehicle color collection expands, too. The paints are named after edibles that designers know taste good, look delicious and evoke a mouth-watering juiciness and succulence. Whether customers have a sweet tooth or are looking for a little spice, Ford’s 2008 vehicles are creating an appetite with new colors including Candy Apple Red, Dark Cherry, French Silk, Light Sage, Kiwi Green, Merlot, Orange Frost and White Chocolate.
Wellspring
Inspired by life-sustaining water, wellspring hues of pale greens and frosty blues top this season’s palette, as well. Two of the top-selling colors on the new Ford Escape, Mercury Mariner and the hybrid versions are Kiwi Green metallic and Ice Blue metallic. Additionally, a new opaque metallic that mirrors foliage, called Moss Green, is offered on the Lincoln MKZ and other sedans for 2008.
Density Rich
Weighty metallics aren’t just preserved for handbags, shoes and jewelry this season. Select Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles will appear even more chic in an all-new smoky-silver metallic, called Vapor, and an incandesce bronze, called Earth.
Say Goodbye to Refrigerator White
Long gone are the days of white vehicles that look like ordinary kitchen appliances. White is making a comeback – now that Ford has developed a natural hue without being pasty or stark.
Ford’s great white effort started with the 2007 model year’s creamy White Chocolate tri-coat metallic. On average, more than 30 percent of Lincoln customers chose this premium paint color. For 2008, Lincoln is offering the color White Suede across the line-up, offering customers a hue that delivers the sparkle of a metallic in a soothing pigment.
Savories
Exuberant, energizing hues are back by popular demand. For instance, Blazing Copper – the trend color launched on the Ford Edge in 2007 – returns. A success in the market, this trendy hue was chosen by nearly 10 percent of Edge customers for their new crossovers last year – doubling traditional feature color take rates – and it remains hot for the 2008 model year.