FIAT have stopped producing grey cars – because the colour is not “Italian” enough.
The car giant says the move is based on new “Dolce Vita” values to inspire drivers to live with optimism and positivity.
It means from today, colours in the present and future Fiat line-up will be “inspired by the Italian Sea, Sun, Earth and Sky”.
These will include fancy colours like gelato white, Sicilia orange, passione red, foresta green and dipinto di blu blue.
Fiat’s decision means the new 500 supermini, 500X SUV, Panda, Tipo or 600e models won’t be available in grey.
CEO Olivier Francois insisted the change was to “enhance the importance of colours in life, embodying the Italian way of living”.
But whitewashing grey from the Fiat colour palette will come as a shock to millions of Brits, where it’s been the most popular car colour for the last five years.
In 2022 alone, there were 415,199 new grey cars registered in the UK, accounting for 25.7 percent of motors that year – up 1.7 percent on the year before.
Black came second on the list with 324,993 new registrations.
And Fiat’s decision could have a serious impact on car sales in Britain, MailOnline reports.
Hugo Griffiths, of car buying site carwow, told the website this is because dark shades of car are more desirable on Britain’s booming car finance market, which many drivers opt for in order to get a car.
He added: “Monthly repayments can actually be higher for cars in unusual shades which face lower residual values due to reduced demand on the second-hand market.”
That means a grey, black or silver car is likely to be more valuable on the used car market than bright pink or lime green.
With grey now discontinued, it means thousands of drivers in the UK could be sitting in a valuable car.
Cars can appreciate in price over the years if they have rare features like unusual interiors or colours, which are often sought after by petrol heads.
