This March 22 in the Year of our Lord 2023 is proving to be what we in the business call a “Slow News Day.” Of course, now that I’ve articulated this, within an hour Elon Musk will probably have disappeared inside a time machine of his own creation only to find himself jumping from person to person in the 20th century, righting wrongs and helping people, and also completely tanking Tesla’s stock price. Here’s hoping that isn’t the case; I could use a quiet day for a change.
But that doesn’t mean there is no news, and so today we’re talking classic car values, Italy’s fight for biofuels, women buying EVs and why Genesis needed to up Hyundai’s dealer game. Let’s do this.
Color Matters If You Want To See Green
I’ve never been huge on the idea of cars as an “investment.” Ninety-nine percent of the time, that simply won’t be the case, and I think cars are ultimately tools that are meant to be driven. (It shouldn’t surprise you that the team that salutes this sort of behavior would think so.) But many cars are worth what people are willing to pay for them.
Collector car values have skyrocketed in recent years as more and more people treat them as investment pieces, the same as fine art or exotic wine. Every year, I feel like some new 1960s Ferrari sells at auction for a record-breaking amount of money. But at this year’s Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance, the 1962 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider that sold for a record $18 million at a Gooding & Co. auction actually had something rather interesting going on with it: it’s blue. And the only example of that car ever sold new in that shade.
Scoff at classic car values all you want, but you sort of get why this one was a big deal. Here’s Bloomberg about what this sale says about classic car colors:
But it was a further element that made the Ferrari most alluring: its color. Gooding’s headlining car was the world’s only example delivered new in Azzurro Metallizzato, or metallic blue.
“Unique and rare colors most certainly can contribute to higher values at auction and in the general marketplace,” says David Gooding, the founder and president of Gooding & Co. “‘Traditional’ car colors may be more ‘safe’ when it comes to buying and selling, but we see more opportunity for drastic upticks in value when an already great collector car is available in its factory-delivered, rare and visually appealing color scheme.”
‘Safe’ means a sure bet, something with a relatively steady track record when it comes to value and mass appeal. You know you’ll find a buyer for a car in a standard color. But along with rarity, pedigree and condition, certain eccentric or specially requested colors on a collectible car can deliver a pleasant bump in value.
“Color completely matters,” says Bryon Madsen, the chief strategy officer of auction house RM Sotheby’s. “You don’t know how much, but you know that [a unique color] will command a premium.”
The old adage is that non-red Ferraris command less resale value than the red ones, because people want what they want. Apparently, that hasn’t been true since the ’80s, however. And as that story points out, our normal-car choices are supremely boring these days; we Americans love various shades of white, gray and black. Bleh.
But if you want to make some money on your vintage classic, get a real color:
And yet, when it comes to the blue chip classics, discerning collectors favor something far more interesting.
“Color is usually the primary [search criteria] for our clients,” says Eli Kogan, the owner of Otto Car Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, who often sources high-value collectible vehicles for club members.
Forget red Ferrari Testarossas and silver Porsche 911s—so expected, they’ve become clichés. If you want to own something that commands a higher value than comparable models from its era, you need something from the outer ends of the color spectrum, something no one else is likely to have: a blue Ferrari, for instance. At RM Sotheby’s, a 1976 Ferrari 308 GTB “Vetroresina” painted in a striking, dark azzurro metallizzato sold for $313,000, against a pre-auction high estimate of $275,000.
Porsche has even had to re-issue its Rubystone shade for customized new models, apparently. Maybe this newfound love of colors will trickle down to more normal cars. One can hope, anyway. We could all use a little more color in our lives.
Italy Demands Biofuels As Well As E-Fuels In European ICE Ban Fight
Speaking of Italian cars, that country is hitting back even harder at the European Union’s proposed de-facto 2035 ban on internal combustion. As we’ve reported, the Germans wanted a carve-out for e-fuels—the allegedly “carbon neutral” synthetic fuels that are really only such if they’re produced using expensive and experimental carbon capture technology.
Now, the Italians want an exemption for biofuels as well. Those are also synthetic fuels, but created from biomass, like algae, animal waste, plant waste, industrial byproducts and so-on. Ethanol is a biofuel, for example. They’re lower in carbon emissions than gasoline, but still produce them, and the EU wants to go carbon-zero with its cars in about a decade.
Here’s Reuters on Italy’s holdup:
“Italy would not accept an unduly restricted interpretation by the Commission of ‘CO2 neutral fuels’, that includes only e-fuels and not biofuels,” three Italian ministers, of transport, environment and enterprises, said in the letter dated March 21 and seen by Reuters.
Brussels is in talks with Germany to attempt to resolve the row, with some officials hoping to reach a deal before a summit of EU leaders on Thursday. Countries including Poland and the Czech Republic have also raised issues with the law.
In an attempt to resolve it, the Commission has drafted a proposal to allow carmakers to register new cars that run exclusively on carbon neutral fuels. The draft, seen by Reuters on Tuesday, did not include biofuels in the definition of “carbon neutral fuels”.
The takeaway here is that lots of NGOs and governments (and even some automakers) say they want to phase out powertrains that create carbon emissions, but the political reality of making this happen is a lot more complicated. For Germany and Italy, both countries want to protect their automotive industries and the jobs therein, and the newest Italian government is proving highly resistant to environmental regulations.
I tend to think e-fuels, specifically, have some value in helping the transition to a majority zero-emissions car industry and eventually keeping some classic cars on the road. (Let’s face it: this is the problem, not so much you taking your Miata out for the occasional jaunt on weekends when the weather’s nice.) I don’t see it as a magic-bullet solution that can keep internal combustion alive. But the global political fights to solve this question are just getting started.
Charging Location Safety Concerns May Deter Women EV Buyers
It’s no great secret that a lot of EV charging locations are in afterthought spots, often shoved into the back of some random parking lot. There are a few near me in New York that always seem to be next to, or under, the combined winter snow-garbage pile from a neighboring business. Gas stations aren’t great, but at least they’re supposed to be well-lit and generally plentiful enough that you can go to a nearby one if you don’t like the vibes. Charging an EV in some random lot in the dead of the night isn’t great for anyone.
That’s especially true for women EV buyers, who told the nonprofit news site The 19th that charging location safety concerns may be turning them back to gas cars:
Women were twice as likely to say they were concerned about their safety at public charging stations. Unlike gas stations, charging stations do not have employees on site and tend to be more out of the way — often they are situated in the back of parking lots. And in comparison to the five minutes it takes to fill up a car with gas, electric cars require at least 30 minutes to recharge.
Russak, who has two adult daughters, 18 and 22, said she wouldn’t feel comfortable if either of them had to charge the car at night or in an isolated place.
“It would be creepy,” she said. “In Canada there are these [charging] stations off the mountain roads at utility stations or rest stops, but they are off the beaten path. I wouldn’t stop at one of those at night.”
The story brings up some very valid points as it seeks to address why EV buyers have lately been men so far—a reversal from a century ago, when their cleanliness and ease of operation led them to largely be marketed to women. Also, I don’t want to stereotype, but I do think it’s true that women tend to be more practical car buyers than men do, leading them to have more concerns over charging times, reliability and availability. (Look, let’s face it, when somebody tries to use a Boxster as a moving van, that’s usually dude behavior.) The story’s worth a read in full, as it has some interesting lessons for the auto industry if it seeks to appeal to everyone with this pivot to EVs.
Time For Genesis To Stand Alone, Stop Selling ‘Out The Side Door of a Hyundai Dealership’
It’s no secret that Hyundai and Kia really got their shit together over the last decade, and in my estimation are making a ton of world-beater cars these days. But one big deterrent to their wider success in America has been their dealer network—an operation that’s often stuck in the 1990s when both brands appealed to, well, less affluent buyers, to put it kindly. Dealers often have to be dragged kicking and screaming into the decade they’re supposed to be in. And I’ve heard many a Hyundai and Kia exec in America roll their eyes at how their dealers act even today.
Genesis, the group’s Lexus- and Mercedes-fighting luxury division, simply cannot have any of that nonsense. It’s got big plans, and that means standalone dealerships that are not attached to a Hyundai store because it’s not the vibe they want to give off. Here’s Automotive News on the big upcoming Genesis dealer rollout:
But progress is slow. Genesis has 270 dealerships now, but only four are standalone stores. Expect a lot of pressure from up top for that to change.
Your Turn
Let’s talk car colors! What have you had? What do you like best? And who’s doing colors best right now?
Had a red subie, a red aerostar, and a red Corolla. Have the weird beige/silver Toyota minivan color. Also had a blue ’84 Camry and a white Honda civic, but most of my cars have been hand-me-downs or used. If I could pick any color a Kermit green like Porsche offered for a while (might still) is where my heart is.
Sorry, I’m an automotive racist of another kind…. color doesn’t matter to me.
Bright colors are more easily targeted by police, at least in my experience. Neutrals blend into the background and make it easier to get away with doing 50 in a 30.
Hey, don’t do 50 in a 30 what the fuck is wrong with you?
I had a passion red volvo V70R with the m66 6-speed. It is a vibrant matte red, very similar to what you would find on a ferrari. I never liked red cars before that, and was tentative to own something that could potentially garner undue law enforcement attention. But i had just been in an accident where a kid didn’t see my road-colored v70 T5M, and rear ended my beloved wagon, shortening it by a couple feet and giving me a nasty concussion from the 1/2/3 rear hit/airbag/smack into the car ahead, all while his horn blasted sweet nothings into the now-occupied and compromised hatch containing my beloved bicycle. So i thought, what’s the brightest color v70 i can find? The red v70r was closest and was a decent price. I drove that car a ton, loved every second of it, and the car was noticed what seemed like a split second (or more) sooner by other drivers than the road camo silver grey. Definitely a look-back car, esp with the charcoal wheels.
When it comes to color, I’m boring. Here’s the list of colors of cars I’ve owned in order:
Gray, Black, White, Gray, White, Black, Silver, Blue(!), White, Gray, Gray, Champagne (aka Silver).
I’ve always had to take the color that was available unfortunately, I think I’ve only ever had various shades of gray, white, black, and blue. Two blue ones in the driveway currently. My favorite color situation was a ’92 (?) Chevy Corsica that I had for a few years after high school. It was gray, but had a preposterous red interior. I would definitely pick a color over grayscale given the choice.
I’m bothered by the sentiment that “Americans only buy black, white, or silver CUVs, SUVs, and trucks.” Visit a local car lot and tell me what you see: a bunch of silver, black, or white CUVs, SUVs, and trucks. How am I supposed to buy a new car in a fun color if there aren’t any for sale?
Well, there’s Forest Service Green, of course. And my MG is a warm cheerful yellow called Bronze Yellow.
I also had a yellow Ford Focus when I lived in LA (purchased from Galpin, actually), a bright-Smurf-blue Ford Escort, a chocolate-brown Chrysler Laser, and very briefly, an orange Super Beetle. My other cars have been fairly tame colors, lots of silver, red, and dark blue, completely by chance.
And my Miata was standard-issue red. I always meant to wrap it some other color, but never got around to it.
1985 Nissan Pulsar NX – Red over red
1995 Nissan Truck, 4×2, regular cab, 5spd, value truck package – Pacific Blue over gray
1972 VW Karmann Ghia – very faded red over black
1998 Honda Accord – Heather Mist Metallic (I think) over tan
2008 Honda Civic – Galaxy Gray Metallic over gray (I spent 6 months trying to get the sedan in blue or red with a manual transmission and finally just gave up and took the automatic)
2017 Mazda Mazda6 GT – Soul Red Metallic over black and espresso brown
2012 Mazda MX-5 PRHT 6spd- Silver over black; since buying used the hard top, transmission, mileage, distance to procure, and overall condition were more important than color. White was immediately disqualified, however.
I completely forgot the 1993 Chevy Corsica – light blue (basically the same as my Nissan Truck Pacific Blue) over grey or blue. A completely forgettable car that I only had for a few years before my wife put it in a ditch; with much worse results to the vehicle than Torch’s recent encounter. Ditches be crazy.
Not counting the hand-me-down gray ’87 Grand Am, I’ve had a Blue-Green Saturn, Baltic Green Jetta, Stonehenge* Passat, and Silk Blue Alltrack [Golf wagon]. I was advocating for the Alltrack in BRG (or whatever VW called their version) and brown interior, but my wife was a hard no, and TBH it didn’t look as good IRL as it did in pics.
We literally drove from Pittsburgh to Muskegon in order to get the Alltrack in a color that wasn’t white/black/silver/red. The orange Jetta that came out that year looks GORGEOUS to me, but not my wife. Since it wasn’t available on the wagon, we didn’t have to debate it. But I stare every time I see one.
*a slightly green-tinged gray. Before that year, they came in a lovely sage green, but it was already June, way too late to find previous-year models new (at least not with our other specs)
VW Green, Tartan Red, Dodge Red, BRG, White, Brown, alien green (son’s car I bought)
“a Hyundai spinoff … The brand is now regarded as a bonafide luxury player by U.S. consumers.”
Really? Oof.
My Bronco is Cyber Orange, which I really like. I also had a Charger Daytona R/T in Go Mango that I absolutely loved. I heard a story that Go Mango was originally going to be called Come and get me Copper, but got nixed, don’t know if that was true or not, but it would have been a really cool name. Maybe one of you sleuths can dig up the history on that in all your copious free time on this slow news day…
So that’s why used Sparks are still so expensive 😀
They came in a bunch of cool colors 😛
I used to have a “gecko green” two door Wrangler. I miss it very much. I was pining for the loss of the Honda Element and got drawn in by the vibrant color of the Jeep. Nowadays my finances aren’t really keeping up with Inflation as much, so if I upgrade from my black Civic, it’ll probably be some extremely boring bland color as cars turn into appliances. Driving did not end up being what it was cracked up to be in my youth. However, off the beaten path, I like to run about on my blue Honda TRX250, which still allows me to have a little fun from time to time.
My Fit is a Blackberry Purple. Still odd, but in a classy and subdued way, like Christopher Walken.
Color is the least of my concerns buying a car. I never buy new and I’m looking for particular engine, tranny, option combos that are usually hard to find so im stuck with whatever color it happens to be. If it’s annoying I’ll paint it, which has only happened 3 times. Blue 300sd to black, rattle can Seca 2 to silver with red graphics, and red and silver 75 chevy crew cab to flat black.
All of my cars are black except for the 924 I got for free (so I didn’t choose it as much as it fell into my lap). This is because objectively black is the best color for cars because it looks badass. Thankfully not everyone agrees so that just makes black cars stand out more. This is the hill I’ve chosen.
Nothing looks as good as a clean black car. But, Black isn’t a color, it’s a full time job.
Black hides a lot of a car’s design details. Something lighter than black provides contrast.
On the other hand, black completely masks door shutlines and bumper seams, leaving the purity of the design to the eye as the designer intended.
So, have we just given up on renaming this section? Forgive me if I missed it, having no interest in electrics or musk I generally just skim most of the news blurbs.
So I have the order guide for my 1972 K5 Blazer pulled up, and one of the strangest things to modern eyes is the color selections.
There are no fewer than 15 exterior colors available (black, white, red, two blues, four greens, two yellows, two oranges, gold, and bronze) and 8 interior colors (black, blue, white, gray, brown, orange, and two different greens).
Above the charts is a “Dealer Note” that’s worth quoting in full: “Exterior and interior combinations in chart below are those *recommended* by Chevrolet; however *any* exterior color may be ordered with *any* available interior color if the particular combination is desired by a customer.”
And this was on a basic truck, not a luxury car.
Manufacturing efficiencies have led to some amazing advances in consumer products, but it bears remembering that THIS IS WHAT THEY TOOK FROM YOU!
My favorite car color depends on the car. I’ve had black on black before it was called “murdered out”, bright red, maroon, two-tone black over silver, forest green, and a smattering of greys and silvers but my current ride is a BRZ in Subaru’s awesome WRB shade of blue.
Every new car I’ve bought has been blue….no exceptions. My used cars have been more of a grab bag. Color is probably the least important factor, but if I’m spending on a new car, I want the color that I want. I don’t want to spy another in the wild in the color I actually wanted and think damn I wish that were me…
RE: EV charging safety: I’m not currently in the market for an EV, but if I were, I would definitely consider public charging locations in the calculus. There is probably something to the notion that women/femmes tend to value safety and reliability in their vehicles. As a woman, I would definitely think twice about buying a vehicle that has a higher likelihood of stranding me somewhere for longer than it would take me to do something simple like change a flat.
About to be 5 standalone dealerships. Building one in my town. It’s a small building, so just a showroom and service entry point. The service department is across the street at the Hyundai dealer.
My Lotus is Cirrus White. A pretty boring colour. I can’t find production numbers for colours, but Cirrus White is one of only 2 colours that were available on all years of Europas.
I also currently have a Molten Orange FiST too.
There’s been a black Jetta, a black and silver DSM, a red S-10, red Contour, red Volvo 940T, a silver Jetta, silver Sienna, a silver Mk2 Supra, a silver 280ZX, a poop-brown 280ZX, and a white NA Miata that was repainted green. Oh and a Subaru blue WRX.
Black, red, and silver life… Blue was probably the best.
My own 1972 Europa Twin Cam is Lotus Yellow (code L07). I like bright colors on cars that might be difficult for other drivers to see. A fittingly Lotus-like lightweight way to maybe add some safety to an otherwise fragile fiberglass classic.
“But progress is slow. Genesis has 270 dealerships now, but only four are standalone stores. Expect a lot of pressure from up top for that to change.”
The problem here is that Genesis already tried this. Before launch. Their plan was to outright refuse to let any Kia or Hyundai dealer sell Genesis. “They aren’t equipped for it,” was the nice way of saying people who demand a credit application and background check before they’ll let you test drive a $5000 used shitbox or change your oil, have no fucking business trying to sell or service a $65,000 luxury sedan.
They were going to force every single franchise who wanted to sell Genesis to become part of an entirely separate dealer network. With strict requirements on the showroom, staff, and service. Requirements no Kia or Hyundai dealership could meet without serious investments.
And the franchise holders (dealers) absolutely lost their shit, because they thought they were going to be printing money by selling $65,000+ cars with predatory loans to people with 520 credit scores. And they sued. They sued Hyundai a LOT, insisting that they couldn’t make a new dealership network based on new requirements, they had to let them do ‘BUY A GENESIS GET A FORTE FREE’ promotions, and the like. They all sued claiming that it was a violation of the franchise contract.
And because we are in the worst fucking timeline, Hyundai lost. Repeatedly. And it has cost them tens of millions of dollars. (So next time the Hyundai/Kia dealer says they have to charge over MSRP, remind that asshole they already got a huge cash payout from Hyundai and can fuck all the way off.) And it also means that the only way to buy a Genesis has remained by dealing with the only marginally less shit Hyundai dealership. Who will treat your $100,000+ G90 purchase no differently from a $24k Elantra.
Because why is a dealership that actively tries to push usury loans and maintain a high repo rate going to invest in a new showroom, new service, new staff, better training, and better service when they don’t have to? They don’t even honor Genesis’ ordering policies. (The web configurator isn’t definitive. Genesis will absolutely build any color combination you want on a hard commit order, period. There may be an upcharge, but they will do it. I got that straight from the source.)
So I am unfortunately VERY skeptical this will work, or will happen. This has already gone through the courts. Repeatedly. A Florida chain got a $16M payday just in October because Hyundai didn’t let them block a competing Genesis dealership. A New York dealership is suing over being refused allocations for refusing to (checks lawsuit notes) do things like clean trash from the lot and waiting areas, and wash the buildings. Because remember, the existing Hyundai/Kia dealerships are pretty much owned exclusively by the worst fucking human beings.
But even if it did happen and Genesis got it’s own location, it will be owned by the same company/person that owns the local Hyundai. Some of the staff will transfer to Genesis and ALL the shitty business tactics, nonsense, and idiocy will transfer. So it will be the same shit show at a different location. They are the worst for predatory loans & markups for dumb or bad credit people like you said. Any Genesis location will never compare to a BMW, Lexus, Merc, etc.
I was interested in a Telluride/Palisades 3 yrs ago, a GX80 2 years ago, a Niro EV 1 year ago. All 10ish dealers I dealt with completely turned me off on the brands, I will never do business with a Kia/Hyundai/Genesis dealer ever.
My car color ownership history: Boston Green E36 328i, Space Grey 128i, Arctic Silver Camaro, Light Prairie Tan F-150. I do miss the Boston Green, such an underrated color. Now a days, Dodge/Jeep have properly good colors, BMW still does but the cars are difficult to look at.
I had a Boston Green E36 320i a few years ago. I definitely agree.
My current E36 is Cosmos Black, but it does have a tan interior and it’s a 323i manual (the 320i was an auto). So swings and roundabouts.
At one point I had a B5 Audi A4 in Java Green. Now that really stood out in a car park.
I’ve had a few red or blue cars, and one beige too. A couple in black, one white. No silver cars yet!