[F32Fleet]

Originally Posted by ayilar

Here are actual sales figures (full article here) in support of the claim that green was in fact far from the worst-selling color until 15 or so years ago:

Attachment 3469444

Yep. From 1990 on one of the worst.

[GuidoK]

Originally Posted by ayilar

Here are actual sales figures (full article here) in support of the claim that green was in fact far from the worst-selling color until 15 or so years ago:

Attachment 3469444

That's a picture from a belgian site.
Are those numbers representative for the US market?

[wtwo3]

Originally Posted by ayilar

Here are actual sales figures (full article here) in support of the claim that green was in fact far from the worst-selling color until 15 or so years ago:

Attachment 3469444

It's a bit misleading.... the vast majority of cars are purchased from dealer inventory and not special ordered. Dealers are much less likely to order cars outside of standard white/silver/black.... and even when they do it's something like a blue or a red. Dealers don't like to take risks with flamboyant colors and then have those cars sitting on lots in case nobody wants it.

The result would be much more interesting if all cars were special ordered.

[Navin_Johnson]

Originally Posted by wtwo3

It's a bit misleading.... the vast majority of cars are purchased from dealer inventory and not special ordered. Dealers are much less likely to order cars outside of standard white/silver/black.... and even when they do it's something like a blue or a red. Dealers don't like to take risks with flamboyant colors and then have those cars sitting on lots in case nobody wants it.

The result would be much more interesting if all cars were special ordered.

I think since covid, a greater percentage of cars have been custom ordered than there used to be. Since there are fewer new cars on the lots to just drive away, the dealers are having to order them for the customer, and they might as well option them as they want at that point. A couple people I know who work at dealers have told me that a truck shows up, unloads, the cars get prepped and then delivered to the customer. There are very few dealer orders coming in to just sit on the lot. I would imagine the owners of the dealership have to be somewhat happy they aren't carrying a ton of new car inventory, but it's very hard to draw customers in with fewer cars sitting on display. Trying to fill up those lots is why the prices for used cars was so far out of wack. Dealers were scrambling to put something out there to cover the empty lots.

[ayilar]

Originally Posted by GuidoK

That's a picture from a Belgian site.
Are those numbers representative for the US market?

Fair point.

In short, yes. According to PPG, "In the mid to late 90’s green cars captured over 20% of North America’s automotive color popularity." Remember those "Deep Emerald Green" Ford Explorers?

FWIW, green was also very popular in the US market back in the seventies. As one data point, here are the 1971 Chrysler sales by color percentages. At 15% total, green shades were the most popular for the brand that year (Source: https://hamtramck-historical.com/ima...e_info0009.jpg).

This said, there are indeed differences between Europe and the States, which vary by year/decade. Here is some info for 2003-2021, again based on PPG data (Source: https://www.carscoops.com/2022/02/co...ite-and-black/)

[wtwo3]

Originally Posted by Navin_Johnson

I think since covid, a greater percentage of cars have been custom ordered than there used to be. Since there are fewer new cars on the lots to just drive away, the dealers are having to order them for the customer, and they might as well option them as they want at that point. A couple people I know who work at dealers have told me that a truck shows up, unloads, the cars get prepped and then delivered to the customer. There are very few dealer orders coming in to just sit on the lot. I would imagine the owners of the dealership have to be somewhat happy they aren't carrying a ton of new car inventory, but it's very hard to draw customers in with fewer cars sitting on display. Trying to fill up those lots is why the prices for used cars was so far out of wack. Dealers were scrambling to put something out there to cover the empty lots.

Most automakers don't allow for custom orders. They do allow for a customer to reserve a car in transit however - but that shouldn't be confused with a custom order. For example, Toyota, Honda, Ford, etc, don't do custom ordered cars. And Teslas don't exactly offer a ton of color options.

So I'd say it's still dealer orders for the vast majority of cars - but that's separate from whether those cars sit in inventory or not.

[mjj]

Originally Posted by wtwo3

Most automakers don't allow for custom orders. They do allow for a customer to reserve a car in transit however - but that shouldn't be confused with a custom order. For example, Toyota, Honda, Ford, etc, don't do custom ordered cars. And Teslas don't exactly offer a ton of color options.

So I'd say it's still dealer orders for the vast majority of cars - but that's separate from whether those cars sit in inventory or not.

My Ford Bronco was custom ordered.

[wtwo3]

Originally Posted by mjj

My Ford Bronco was custom ordered.

ok but my point still stands.... MOST cars are not custom ordered... and aren't even allowed to be. And even then, the ones that are, most don't even allow green as a color choice. I went through this exercise when buying a car for my in-laws... we checked out lexus, acura, toyota, etc.... none of them allowed for custom ordering. Best you could do was reserve incoming inventory.