MUTED OR MUDDY?

EARTH-TONED HUES ARE MORE POPULAR THAN EVER

BY ALLISON ROGERS

The late 2010s saw plenty of automakers experiment with earth-toned palettes. Shades like Toyota’s Lunar Rock, a muted blue-grey hue drawing inspiration from the moon; or Audi’s Nardo Grey, a murky grey with khaki undertones that many credit as the usher of the trend. Ford has its Area 51 Blue shade, which draws on the same basic gloss features, albeit lighter and more reminiscent of a sky blue—one that would make you question whether it’s about to rain, that is.

This colour trend, which has no specific moniker but is often referred to as—‘wet putty’ or, more technically, basic gloss, no additives or ‘stealth’—relies heavily on earthy, desaturated colours. Colours that, if it weren’t for a layer of gleaming clear coat, would appear to be matte. Some painters go as far as to say cars donning these oft-grey colours look like they rolled straight off the assembly line, skipped the painting process and jumped right through to clear coat. It’s almost as basic as you can get—no (or very little) additives like metallics, flakes or pearlescent coats. Just one pigment and a clear coat for that glossy finish.

A qualifying characteristic of the trend: colours with more grey tones in them. The trend began with Nardo Grey, originally debuted by Audi in 2013. Nardo Grey is described as “a darker grey, that accentuates a car’s line in a stealthy way.” Some refer to the popularized hue as “flat grey”, though such a name devalues the complexity of the colour, which is “deceptively complicated for a grey.”

Electric automaker Rivian launched its “Earth Tones” palette in February 2022, which twists the trend by offering similarly subdued shades of green, red and yellow. Red Canyon is meant to “recall a Utah canyon at sunset,” and features a small amount of shimmer, particularly visible on sunny days. Compass Yellow is a “warm, almost pastel yellow that recalls the colour shift of a fall afternoon,” says Rivian. Other tones drew from much simpler inspirations, like Launch Green; a solid, flat green with red undertones, inspired by the anti-corrosion coating applied to every Rivian vehicle before exterior paint is added.

Despite the literal lack of glitz, these coatings often carrier heftier price tags than your traditional pearlescent white or flaked red. More often than not, these shades are reserved for luxury models and sportscars, bearing premiums between $400 to $10,000.

Some enthusiasts aren’t fans of the colour, and chalk its popularity up to OEMs recruiting the attention of Millennials and Gen X-ers—part of the “broader manstreamification of grey-shaded consumer goods…heavily targeted at” the generations, according to culture commentary site Blackbird Spyplane. On one hand, millennials (born between 1981 and 1996) lean heavily toward neutral shades, says home paint company Behr, while generation X-ers (1965-1980) are drawn to “bright, exotic, global hues… jade greens, deep violets and indigos… paired with grey or silver, pale mushroom and earthy neutrals.” A description that we’d say matches the trend quite accurately.

Other analysts suspect the trend has more modest roots, spawned by recent suppy shortages. Back in September 2022, a dealership employee reported in an online forum that he’d heard of pigment shortages in OEM facilities. Since grey is achormatic, only requiring white and black to create, the user said automakers were opting to coat cars in flat greys. Another commenter argued against them, stating that “mica is abundant and cheap,” and no such shortages prompted the “wet-putty whip” trend.

Regardless of the trend’s origins, the popularity of such wet putty, muddy, flat, matte or earthy tones has been present for more than a decade now. Can it still be called a fad, or are we back to the basics for good?