India's new-age car buyers are opting for brighter, single-model shades that define brands, personality
car buyers gravitated to the other end of the palette, having a well-known preference for white or silver.
Not any more, it seems.
India's young, aspirational consumers are now opting for brighter, bolder colours such as purple, yellow, red, blue and, yes, black, as they switch to larger, feature-rich, sports utility vehicles (SUVs).
«The Fearless Purple on the Nexon, Sunlit Yellow on the Harrier and Cosmic Gold on the Safari (all recently introduced) are developing their own community of admirers looking to express themselves via the vehicles they drive,» said Vinay Pant, head, marketing, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles.
Automakers are also using colours to communicate brand positioning.
«Some colours go well with the brand value we are trying to communicate,» said Shashank Srivastava, senior executive officer, marketing and sales, Maruti Suzuki India, the country's biggest carmaker. «We zeroed in on the Nexa Blue, after going through colours prevalent at fashion shows at the time, to connote sophistication and elegance.»
Signature shades
«Then, there are character colours we decide upon for certain models,» said Srivastava of Maruti Suzuki India.
«For a vehicle like S-Presso, aimed at young buyers, we opted for orange. For Swift, which is about performance, red goes well with our messaging.»
South Korean automaker Hyundai says nearly a third of the demand for the recently launched Exter SUV has been for the khaki colour option, which is a shade of green.
At Maruti Suzuki, Nexa Blue accounts for as much as 27% of the sales of the Grand Vitara and the Fronx.
