Paris Sees White

2023 Author: Eric Donovan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-08-25 09:36

Futuristic design and retro look determine the picture at the Paris Motor Show. White - the car color of the 80s - is back on trend.

The big European car manufacturers present a lot of automotive reason in Paris. Sporty SUVs in smaller form are “in”. Designers and engineers also rely on intelligent room concepts that leave more space for the driver. And finally, hybrid and fuel cell engines set the tone. One of the most important trends is: return to traditional colors and shapes.

"There is a renaissance of the trend color white," says the automotive researcher Ferdinand Dudenhöffer. The luxury brand Maybach is presenting its limousine 57 S for the first time in a shimmering pearlescent white paint that contains mica. The color changes when exposed to light.

"We are thus fulfilling our customers' wishes for even more individuality," says spokesman Stefan Diehl. Only black and silver are available as standard. The French car maker Peugeot is also showing its coupé-convertible study 207 Epure in white - the color is supposed to represent the purity of the convertible powered by a 20 kilowatt fuel cell. The car has a range of 350 kilometers.

According to the Federal Motor Transport Authority, the streetscape in Germany is rather monotonous these days: almost half of the newly registered cars are presented in a simple gray or silver metallic. Every fourth car is black. The color white is currently far behind with a two percent share - in 1980 six times as many new cars were painted white.

Luxury and passion are paired with economical engines in Paris. The French brand Citroën is showing the avant-garde concept study C-Métisse, a hybrid coupé with wheel-scarred electric motors and a V6 diesel. The Daihatsu Materia has a retro look. The box-shaped four-door model with angular styling stands out from the rounded uniform design of the mini-class.

More possibilities for variation

While the demand for large, luxurious off-road vehicles is falling in Europe and especially in the USA, the market for compact SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicles) is booming. “The wave of small off-road vehicles is slowly rolling in,” says Christoph Stürmer from the Global Insight forecasting institute. The customer is increasingly demanding a product that is tailored to him. "Companies can offer more variants because their processes have become more efficient and because they use common platforms for several models." This would not put too much pressure on their margins.

VW with Coupé study Iroc

In Paris, Honda drives the CR-V on its way off-road, which has new safety equipment - for example, automatic braking if a collision threatens. Mitsubishi shows the revised off-road classic Pajero. From 2007 the VW Touareg will also be available with a 350 hp V8 FSI engine. But the star at VW is the sporty coupé study Iroc, with which the Wolfsburg-based company gives a foretaste of the new Scirocco. The new off-road vehicles also include the Opel Antara and the now seven-seater BMW X5.

The trend towards a mix of styles continues. The Mazda CX-7 is a mix of off-road vehicle and sports tourer. The Japanese manufacturer Nissan shows the concept with the name Qashqai (pronounced: Käsch-Kai), which at first glance is unpronounceable - in the Golf class, but a mix of sedan and SUV.