Billionaire

If I'ma have to paint it after I buy it, then I would like them to offer a version that is only painted with primer and give us a discount. Surely that would be no trouble for them.

Jeremiah 29:11

Billionaire, I tried to tell you in another post that it was just not a matter of changing a paint can. It is a very big undertaking that few of us understand because of the large volumes of cars produced and the automation techniques used.

RoswellGrey

That's actually not a bad idea IF primering as we all generally understand it is done as a separate step at the factory before the car is painted. Of course they might somehow incorporate "primering" right into the painting itself these days.

RRUNNER

Do you really think a car company would sell you a car with only primer on it? They're not in the business to sell partially finished cars and the discount you got for not getting it painted would be negligible.

BootCamp

No auto manufacturer will sell you a "primered" car. Most manufacturers have the body (rust) covered under the warranty (defects in workmanship?) and selling a primer only car would be an invitation to continuous warranty work or legal actions.
Primer is porous which is why the final finish adheres to the car (ever notice a lot of the GM cars with peeling paint, like GM's infamous "Blow-away Blue" on the older S-10's, S-15's and some Pontiacs? That occurs when the primer is "too hard" for the final finish to bond to) . Since it is porous, it holds moisture. The best paint jobs are done in a very clean environment to keep dirt, dust, and particles from getting into/onto the primered finish. How much dust and filth will get on a car from the time it leaves the assembly line (via rail cars and new-car-carrier trucks) until it get to the dealership? Isn't that why a lot of guys clay their cars as soon as they get them? - to get rid of the rail dust?
Buying a car "primer only" from a manufacturer just ain't gonna happen. Forget it.

Why would the auto industry be any different from any other business? Don't all businesses operate to turn a profit? If not, they're not in business very long. It's called the "Law of Economics" ; "Good enough is good enough".
Let's not compare apples and oranges here. Some businesses are "customer specific", meaning they have to satisfy the individual customers' needs. These are usually "service industries", such as Web Design, Photography, and Legal Services just to name a few. Auto manufacturing is a "product industry" where goods, not services are sold. The target market isn't as specific (or demanding) as the service industry, so concessions are made by both the customer and the provider. The idea is to get the most market share of what you're offering as you can with what you present to the customers as the best value for their money. Product industry tries to target the "majority" of the market with something that will appeal to MOST of them. No product will EVER appeal to ALL of them. The idea is to keep your costs to a minimum while making as much as possible on each unit sold. The more units sold, the better.
Pretty logical, right?
Now think....... how many "ordinary" potential customers want their car in SubLime, GoMango, TopBanana? Sure, Challenger buyers will want those colors, but that's item specific (nostalgic colors on a retro-muscle-car), and doesn't apply "across the board" where the market has to be viewed. Not many Police Departments want a PlumCrazy base color on their squad cars, and the VP of you local bank probably doesn't want his 300C in PantherPink. You need to look at this from the supply side - as any business does.

Where some businesses (most of the smaller/local service businesses) depend, survive, and actually flourish on being flexible enough to cater to their customers' individual and specific needs (and usually price their services with that in mind), the auto industry can't afford to do that. They need to sell what they have (a product, not a service) to as many customers as possible in a package while keeping the costs uniform and prices just high enough to make a reasonable profit. That means keeping the assembly line efficient in ALL facets of the process.

Bottom line - if you want a custom color that the manufacturer doesn't offer, there are plenty of talented painters waiting to sell you their services - targeted at meeting your specific needs (for a price, of course). They need to put food on their tables too.



BTW..... anyone who infers that the Auto Makers will go out of business is sadly mistaken. There is a NEED and WANT for automobiles (all types and sizes). Some auto makers may be bought out by others (like any other business). But considering that the demand for automobiles and trucks increases with the population, to think that the auto makers will all just fold up is simply lud

JJMPB

uh oh you better get Macco

WhiteHeat

I agree with everything in your post. Expecting a car company to sell you a primer-only car is ridiculous, auto makers will not go out of business (only the american ones will ), etc. But, allow me to play devil's advocate for your point about colors.

The harsh reality is that, while a company should please its customers or risk losing them, it only has to please them better than the competition does. It's sort of a variation on the old joke "I don't have to outrun the tiger, I only have to outrun YOU." If Dodge doesn't offer Sublime, how many sales will it lose to Ford or Chevy? Not many. If you prefer the Challenger you'll buy it in another color rather than buying from the competition.

That said, do we really need two shades of red or two shades of gray? Are there buyers out there thinking "I wanted a Challenger, but its got to be Titanium. If I have to choose silver or black then I'll just get a Camaro instead."? If your marketing strategy is based on "if they like our car better than the competition, they'll buy it regardless of color", then why not go the Henry Ford route of "any color, as long as it's black?"

If they take away Silver and Dark Red and substitute Plum Crazy and Sublime are the Police Departments and bank VPs going to be affected? i doubt it.

PS: I'm offering up my ox to be gored here. At present, Dark Red is my choice and I'm not interested in Plum Crazy or Sublime. But I'll switch to Black or Silver if it'll get more happy Challenger drivers on the road.

And anybody who wants Panther Pink is on their own!

BootCamp

Agreed. And the "Any color - as long as it's black" statement was in my mind as well when I wrote that.
The redundancy of colors you mention (two shades of silver and red) confuses me when other colors are omitted completely from the choices. While I'm not a fan of either, browns and greens seem to be "second class colors" when colors are selected for cars (trucks seem to offer more in these colors, though). Ford comes out with the Bullitt Mustang now and I think you'll see green paint offered on more cars as a result.

The other thing I wanted to mention was the cost of the paint. Red, for example, is an expensive color to manufacture. Dodge offers the Inferno Red paint at an additional cost. I'm unsure of how other auto makers handle their paint options/costs, so I won't attempt to venture a guess.
Needless to say, you can't please everybody, so the thought is to please as many as you can with a reasonable amout of effort/choices.

dodgebrothers

Point of fact, the auto industry has offered cars in primmer. Dodge in fact did with the '68 Hemi Darts - though admittedly not aimed for "street use".

I too agree, it is unlikely they or any automaker would do in Primmer, but perhaps the Challenger S/S version??

On top of all this, I was surprised to learn the most popular American car color is brown/dark tan... A lot of folks out there who just drive vehicles from point A to Point B...Ugh

Thor77

I can't believe how many beige-ish cars you see on the road. It definitely caters more toward the "vehicle as appliance" crowd. I remember in the mid 90's, almost every Honda seemed to be that wimpy champagne-type color. [:'(] Oh well, without all the boring cars, the Challenger wouldn't stand out so much