Ford Faqs

When picking out a car most people look at what model they want and they won’t often want to buy it if it doesn’t come in the color that they like. White, black, red, and silver are usually the only colors that are offered for any vehicle. Ford Motor Co. Nearly 40% of consumers will walk out of a dealership if it doesn’t have a vehicle they want in the precise color they want, according to research by Ford Motor Co.

What’s more, cars and trucks painted in popular colors also tend to sell faster than those clad in more ho-hum hues. Customers are even willing to shell out a few hundred extra dollars for a color they want to live with for three years or so.

With these facts in mind, Ford engineers and designers have quietly been mixing up a paint revolution in the secret confines of its Dearborn product development labs. By 2009, 45% of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars and trucks will feature trend-setting new paint colors, a color changeover that will be the biggest ever in the company’s 104-year history.

“What we are doing is going after paint leadership,” Susan Lampinen, group chief designer for colors, materials and interiors at Ford, told the Free Press during a recent unveiling of many of the new colors. “This is a huge change.” And, she noted, it couldn’t be more important. “We know it’s something that seals the deal,” Lampinen said.

Some of the new colors to come will be on display today on several new Mercury models, which will be on view at Fashion Week in New York City. That event kicked off Sept. 5 and runs through Sept. 12. But some of the new hues are already on the road. Like the fiery “blazing copper” featured on the Ford Edge crossover. Or the warm “white chocolate” offered on new Lincoln models.

Despite the $495 charge for that deeper, softer white, it has the highest take rate of any color at the company, with 30% of Lincoln customers paying extra for it. Vehicles in this color also sell 11 days faster than the traditional colors.

To come up with its new colors, Ford designers and engineers started three years ago, looking to cutting-edge fashion, decadent foods, as well as furniture, architecture and consumer products, like iPods, for inspiration. “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,” he said.

Ford’s lead paint designer, Jon Hall, said the company now has plans for a sophisticated color palette unlike any other in the past. It will feature: Revived versions of the cornerstone colors. That includes “Tuxedo Black,” which has glass flakes embedded in the coat for a rich sparkle and will be featured on the all-new 2008 Lincoln MKS sedan. And new whites that take their cues more from seashells or ice cream more than stark appliances.

Cool, earthy and somewhat feminine pastels, like “Kiwi Green” and “Ice Blue” metallic, which will be featured on Ford Escape and Mercury Mariner. Metallics that look truly machined and metal-like, like a heavy silver belt buckles or sparkling fine jewelry. For example, select Ford, Lincoln and Mercury vehicles will be offered in an all-new smoky-silver metallic, called “Vapor,” and an incandescence bronze, called “Earth.”