Not any extra, it appears. India’s younger, aspirational customers at the moment are choosing brighter, bolder colors resembling purple, yellow, pink, blue and, sure, black, as they swap to bigger, feature-rich, sports activities utility automobiles (SUVs).
“The Fearless Purple on the Nexon, Sunlit Yellow on the Harrier and Cosmic Gold on the Safari (all not too long ago launched) are creating their very own group of admirers seeking to categorical themselves through the automobiles they drive,” stated Vinay Pant, head, advertising, Tata Motors Passenger Autos.
Automakers are additionally utilizing colors to speak model positioning.
“Some colors go properly with the model worth we are attempting to speak,” stated Shashank Srivastava, senior government officer, advertising and gross sales, Maruti Suzuki India, the nation’s greatest carmaker. “We zeroed in on the Nexa Blue, after going via colors prevalent at style exhibits on the time, to connote sophistication and magnificence.”
Signature shades
“Then, there are character colors we determine upon for sure fashions,” stated Srivastava of Maruti Suzuki India. “For a car like S-Presso, geared toward younger consumers, we opted for orange. For Swift, which is about efficiency, pink goes properly with our messaging.”
South Korean automaker Hyundai says almost a 3rd of the demand for the not too long ago launched Exter SUV has been for the khaki color possibility, which is a shade of inexperienced.
At Maruti Suzuki, Nexa Blue accounts for as a lot as 27% of the gross sales of the Grand Vitara and the Fronx. “The fitting color shades appeal to speedy viewers consideration, as they make the product stand out within the advertising collaterals – TV commercials, billboards, brochures and digital content material,” Pant stated.
Tata Motors is seeing rising demand for its so-called Darkish version – as much as 30% of gross sales. These characteristic an all-black theme, whereas the Crimson-Darkish version comes with pink seats and accents on the outside. The corporate can be seeing wholesome curiosity from consumers for the Fearless Purple possibility in Nexon SUVs and the Sunlit Yellow that the facelifted Harrier is on the market in.
Whereas white nonetheless accounts for 43-45% of SUV gross sales at Maruti Suzuki, issues are altering.
“There appears to be a transparent divergence in selection of color in SUV/MPV class in contrast with the erstwhile dominant hatch, vans, sedan phase,” stated Srivastava. “Darker shades like blue, black have seen an elevated contribution in SUVs and MPVs, (whereas demand for) lighter shades like white, silver, gray has declined.”
Gross sales of blue and black Maruti SUVs have gone up by 9% and 5%, respectively, within the final 5 years. Color preferences differ city-wise, however brighter colors are most popular within the south and north-east, Srivastava stated.
Whereas customers beforehand most popular white and silver, that are simpler to take care of and make smaller vehicles look larger, there may be an rising choice for darker shades, particularly in terms of bigger automobiles, stated Tarun Garg, chief working officer at Hyundai Motor India.