Taking a Look Back at 50 Automotive Shades of Gray

As Axalta continues its year-long celebration of Gallant Gray – the 2017 Automotive Color of the Year – we thought it would be interesting to look back on the recent history of gray and a popular list of 50 shades of automotive grays.

Since 1953, Axalta has been the leading company to publish data on auto color trends and popularity in our annual Color Popularity Reports -- that’s more than 60 years’ worth of reports.

In our first edition, green ranked number one, blue was two and gray was third (all North America data in 1953). In 2016, the tables turned quite a bit. White was the worldwide number one for the sixth consecutive year. Black was second, while silver and gray tied for third. Silver, overtaken by white as world number one in 2011, continues to slide globally.

“The more things change, the more they stay the same,” said Dan Benton, Axalta Color Marketing Manager. “That’s one of reasons that led us to Gallant Gray.”

Gray has always been a winning color

Benton acknowledges that silver and gray can be close. While Gallant Gray is a luxurious color enhanced with blue and silver flakes that provide a unique sparkle effect and dark undertones for a rich finish, conventional wisdom seems to call silver “shiny” and gray “dull.” Between 2000 and 2012, “silver/gray” was the most popular color in Europe just as it was in the Asia-Pacific region from 1973-1978.

We went back about 30 years and found 50 different grays from automakers. Notice how some are even named “silver” but their color formulations put them squarely in the gray family.

And yes, I am using the correct spelling gray from our offices just outside Detroit. Technically, both are acceptable … and I’d probably use “grey” if my office was in Europe or Australia.

The list is sorted by year first used, for no particular reason.

Have a favorite name? Did we miss one you love? Let us know in the comments section.

Company	Color Name	First Year Used
FORD	SILVER	1988
FORD	SILVER FROST	1994
BMW	TITANIUM SILVER	1997
GENERAL MOTORS CORP	PEWTER	1998
TOYOTA	SILVER	1998
FORD	DARK SHADOW GREY	2000
TOYOTA	SILVER SKY	2001
TOYOTA	PHANTOM GREY	2001
VOLKSWAGEN	PLATINUM GREY	2002
FORD	SILVER BIRCH	2002
GENERAL MOTORS CORP	LIGHT TARNISHED SILVER	2003
TOYOTA	SILVER	2003
GENERAL MOTORS CORP	DARK SPIRAL GRAY	2003
GENERAL MOTORS CORP	STEALTH GREY	2004
CHRYSLER	TUNGSTEN	2004
NISSAN	RADIANT SILVER	2004
MERCEDES	IRIDIUM SILVER	2004
GENERAL MOTORS CORP	GREYSTONE	2005
INFINITI	SILVER	2005
TOYOTA	MAGNETIC GREY	2006
TOYOTA	SLATE	2006
NISSAN	PRECISION GREY	2006
CHRYSLER	SILVER STEEL	2006
NISSAN	DARK SLATE	2007
NISSAN	PLATINUM GRAPHITE	2007
HONDA	POLISHED METAL	2008
GENERAL MOTORS CORP	CARBON FLASH	2008
HONDA	URBAN TITANIUM	2008
SUBARU	DARK GRAY	2008
SUBARU	STEEL SILVER	2008
GENERAL MOTORS CORP	SILVER ICE	2009
FORD	STERLING GREY	2009
GENERAL MOTORS CORP	CYBER GREY	2009
NISSAN	GUNMETAL GREY	2009
MAZDA	LIQUID SILVER	2009
HYUNDAI	SILVER	2009
NISSAN	SAHARA STONE SILVER	2009
GENERAL MOTORS CORP	MAGNA STEEL	2010
GENERAL MOTORS CORP	DARK LABYRINTH GRAY	2010
HYUNDAI	HARBOR GRAY	2010
NISSAN	GRAPHITE BLUE	2010
TOYOTA	WINTER GRAY	2010
CHRYSLER	DARK CHARCOAL	2010
GENERAL MOTORS CORP	SHEER SILVER	2010
ACURA	GRAPHITE LUSTER	2011
HYUNDAI	TITANIUM GRAY	2011
TOYOTA	DARK STEEL	2012
HYUNDAI	IRONMAN SILVER	2012
HYUNDAI	INDIGO NIGHT	2012
GENERAL MOTORS CORP	IRIDIUM	2013

The Gallant Gray Q&A

Axalta’s year-long celebration of Gallant Gray is more than half way through. Over the last eight months, it has been great talking with Axalta customers, colleagues and fans all around the world about the beauty and depth Gallant Gray provides, as well as gray’s rising popularity in the automotive market.

During these valuable discussions, a few questions kept cropping up, so we thought a Gallant Gray Q&A can help answer the most common questions that you may have. Leave a note in the comments if you have a Color of the Year question we didn’t answer.

Q: How did Axalta come up with Gallant Gray?

A: Axalta’s color experts put a lot of time, thought and energy into crafting the Color of the Year. Hard data, daily inspirations and knowledge of the automotive market led Axalta to the color.

Data shows that a high percentage of the market is interested in a neutral palette. Adding slight hints of hues can add life to these colors. Statistically, gray’s popularity on vehicles is on the rise around the globe and silver continues to fall. Behind white and black, gray tied silver in 2016 at 11 percent. Gray leads silver in popularity in Europe (by six percent), North America (five percent), and South Korea (seven percent). Gray is most popular in Europe (17 percent), North America (16 percent), South Korea (19 percent), and India (12 percent). 

Q: Can I buy a Gallant Gray car?

A: Yes and no. Gallant Gray, like each of Axalta’s Color of the Years, is a concept color devised using data from global automotive trends and inspired by nature and culture. The shade is not currently on any production vehicle. However, after its release, custom painters were eager to use Gallant Gray on their projects and so you may come across Gallant Gray on a hotrod or custom car near you! Axalta will feature one of those projects at this year’s SEMA show, so stay tuned for more. Gallant Gray is also at the track. Axalta sponsored driver, William Bryon drives a Gallant Gray Chevrolet in NASCAR’s Xfinity series races.

William Bryon drives a Gallant Gray Chevrolet in NASCAR’s Xfinity series races.

Q: Can I paint my house Gallant Gray?

A: Turn on any home improvement show and there’s a good chance you will see gray inside. Especially in kitchens and living rooms. Axalta’s Gallant Gray was specifically developed as a metallic automotive coating. If you just have to have Gallant Gray in your house, check out Pantone color 430 C for a similar solid color space.

Q: Is it "gray" or "grey"?

A: They are both pretty much acceptable. “Gray” seems to be more popular in the US while “grey” reigns in the UK. 

Q: How do different generations react to Gallant Gray?

A: Gallant Gray is designed to look spectacular on any size vehicle and has had great response globally.  With color complexity and a fresh look to this classic color space, the intent of the color is to have not only global appeal but multi-generation appeal. It may be working, a New York Times story titled, “For Millennial Men, Gray Hair Is Welcome” details several cases of young men going for a Gallant Gray look and reports that Amazon has “seen a threefold increase in the last year in customers searching for gray hair dye.”

Q: Can you tell me next year’s Automotive Color of the Year?

A: Yes! Check back with us around the North American International Auto Show in January 2018.

The Anatomy of Gray

First Ever Gallant Gray Peddle Car to Live as “Art” in 50s-Styled Room

By Destiny Driftmeyer

As part of the introduction of Axalta’s Automotive Color of the Year 2017-Gallant Gray, Axalta had a few peddle cars refurbished and painted by students at Roseville High School in Michigan. You may remember the children’s toy cars that are still popular today.

Axalta displayed the cars at the MotorCity Automotive Industry Night (MAIN) kick-off even tat the 2017 North American International Auto Show in Detroit. At the end of the evening, Axalta’s Nancy Lockhart and Dan Benton raffled off one of the cars.

Destiny Driftmeyer, an automotive product specialist and Toledo School for the Arts student, from the greater Detroit area, was the winner of the car. Destiny she recently visited Axalta’s Color Styling Studio in Clinton Township, Michigan to pick up her prize.

Here are her thoughts on being the first-ever winner of a CotY car and the surprising place she picked to park it.

Destiny Driftmeyer, an automotive product specialist and Toledo School for the Arts student from the greater Detroit area, won Gallant Gray peddle car.

For someone that has never won a raffle or giveaway in her life, I was shocked to hear my name announced at MAIN event in Detroit during NAIAS Preview Week! And I couldn’t be happier that I won an amazing, 1950s-style peddle car painted by Roseville High School. Since I do not have any children yet, the most pressing question I had was “what am I going to do with such a prize?”  

Well, to give you a little background, I am a huge automotive/motorsports fan. I grew up around muscle cars, listened to the Motown Sound at car shows and loved driving around in my grandma's Corvette. My childhood love of cars followed me into adulthood and now I am a Promotional Model at many automotive/motorsports events all across the United States. I even unknowingly checked out Axalta's booth at the 2016 SEMA show in Las Vegas. Small world, right?

No question about it, this peddle car is art and I believe I should give it the treatment it deserves as an art piece.

At first I thought, “what a great theme for a living room.” Then it hit me, “no, this is going in my vanity room.” The room has a 1950s Hollywood vibe going on … think Marilyn, Elvis and James Dean. I think this Gallant Gray peddle car will find a nice home sharing space with my high heel shoe chair and light up mirror sitting on top of a stylish makeup dresser. The car will really help finish the room off. I will accent the room with a framed print of my pin up modeling feature from Lipstick & Lashes magazine and I may snag an art piece or two from my boyfriend, an automotive designer at one of the car companies.

I can see it now. Picture red, black, Gallant Gray and white all put together to form this vintage glam look. How stunning.

I love Axalta's Gallant Gray and cannot imagine a better color for the peddle car. It is the perfect shade with beautiful metallic undertones that really make the car’s features pop. I would love to see more cars on the road with metal flake paint. It is so interesting and different, and makes a car stand out from the crowd. I have always been a chameleon paint fan, so to me it is okay to have some wild styles. There are no rules in the color world!

Follow Destiny on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Destiny.Marie123