2013-08-10

What Do Car Colors Say About the Future of Social Mood?

In Social Mood and Automobile Colors, we learn that white, black and red are positive social mood colors, while silver peaks midway between a top and a bottom in social mood. It begins its run-up along with stocks and then tops out before the bottom. Greens and browns dominate periods of negative mood. Yellow is post-peak mood. Blue and gray seem to have no correlation with mood.

Now let's look at colors expected to be popular in coming years.

Your next car color? Look at your iPhone
Greens and blues are becoming increasingly popular, he said, reflecting a heightened environmental focus. Meanwhile, white is taking over from the long-popular silver shades, which appears to be linked to growing concerns "on both sides of the political spectrum ...that things are not working right," he added.

White has also been buoyed by trends in consumer electronics, Czornij said. The trendsetting Apple (AAPL) iPhone made white a symbol of high technology, something long associated with silver-a color that has lost momentum over the past several years, according to industry sales data.
The commentary on silver is interesting, since it rises into and beyond the peak of the stock market. The association with tech may explain this action, since positive feelings about technology accompany positive social mood. Will white grab some of this market?

The general trend for the 2014 model-year will be "more and more rich, saturated colors," Czornij predicted. But even white will have more subtle variations in tone and gloss. In fact, one of the biggest trends over the next few years could be the move to lower-gloss paints, in satiny or even matte finishes.
I'm guessing gloss would associate with positive mood.

Along with greens and blues, American car buyers are expected to have an attraction to brown shades over the next several years.

But color choices are typically quite different in other parts of the world.

BASF forecasts that "sophisticated intermediate colors, such as olive-greens and bluish grays" will become increasingly popular in the Asia-Pacific region.
So the color guys are predicting negative social mood for several more years in the U.S.

You'll need to sign up to download the above report on socionomics and car colors for free. It's free to register at the Socionomics Institute.

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