For years motorists have opted for grey or dark colours when buying a new car but at this year's Geneva Motor Show manufacturers were more daring in offering flashy, bright or new shades of matte. ( dpa )
A real standout at the show, which ran March 6-16, was the tuned Brabus Bullit Black Arrow Mercedes C-Class fitted with a 537 kW/730 hp V12 power unit in matte black.
Also in matte, but this time in gold, is the Mansory Mercedes SLR. Another tuner, Lorinser, painted an upgraded Mercedes SL in matte silver.
Automobile designer Rinspeed presented its submersible sQuba in all-white matte.
But even the cheaper models are showing different shades. Kia's new mini station wagon the Soul comes in matte black and the new Lancia Delta has a dark matte roof.
Seat's stand in Geneva featured a bright yellow Leon. The new Yes Roadster and the Fiat mini-van, Fiorino, were in shiny orange. Audi and BMW featured amid its standard silver vehicles the odd car in flaming red.
A Mini One was on show in Oxygen Blue. Honda's new Accord is also in blue while the new sports car Artega GT can be ordered either in yellow or deep sea blue.
Designers have obviously been given a free hand in presenting new metallic colours. FAB Design put on show a charged Mercedes SL in orange metallic. A tuned version of the CL Coupe even comes in a daring purple.
In contrast the white metallic effects of the Renault Laguna Coupe or the VW Scirocco look almost harmless.
But the Scirocco could also be seen in Geneva in a metallic "firespark." A similar red-metallic shade could be seen in the Ibiza Bocanegra. But Volkswagen spokesman Christian Buhlmann says the Scirocco red would be reserved for show cars only as production in series was too complicated. The Scirocco will however be available in the new shades of "Rising blue" and dark brown.
But analyst Nick Margetts from the Jato Dynamics market research organisation believes it is quite possible that VW will offer red for the new Scirocco.
"If you present a colour like that at a show you can't really refuse it for your customers," he says.
In general Margetts welcomes the new trend which he attributes to the eco-debate. "We could do with a bit more colour on our roads," he says and "it is nice to have a few blotches of colour on a green meadow."