[bluevolt]

While browsing Maruti's website, I noticed that except Ciaz and Dzire, no other car from Maruti stable is available in black color.

I am surprised with this as being a black color lover, my next car would be in black only. Now what Maruti is thinking? Why they discontinued black shade in almost all of their cars.

Most cars look more premium in black color, other than that black might be the favourite of many.

Is it just me or there are other black shade lovers who might not be very happy with Maruti doing away with black color?

[The Brutailer]

Same for Honda.. No black color for the City. Few years back, black was synonymous with premium cars. Probably people don't prefer it now which is why it has been removed. Manufacturers only care about a product which sells. No matter how good something is, if it doesn't sell, it's good to no one.

[TD_GHY]

Market research may have pointed out a few things

1. Indians consider black color as bad omen, from both social and religious angles. Since car is a very pricey and valuable asset, most people consult an astrologer before purchasing, and black is the least suggested color by them.

2. Black cars are difficult to maintain. Slight amount of dust can leave it hungry for a nice wash.

3. Difficult to spot its dimensions at night

[Rajeevraj]

Not only Maruti, across Manufacturers black is becoming a rare color and is even being dropped from models which had it earlier. For example, I have a Black Vento, but VW no longer offers Vento in black. Similarly the new Innova Crysta also does not come in black.

Due to maintenance concerns and superstition it is probably a slow selling color.

[pranjal1984]

Black coloured vehicles are a rarity these days. Another colour I have rarely seen is the Mysterious Violet shade of Swift. Hardly seen any.

[KRN]

Black is one of the more difficult colours to paint and even the slightest of flaws in paint show up. In Volkswagen showrooms I have seen them proudly display that they use black painted cars to inspect quality of paints under bright light.

So is it really a coincidence that some manufacturers are totally skipping this colour?

[Dhruba_Nazira]

The reason why manufacturers are not offering black color in most models is lack of demand from customers. A major reason why customers don't prefer black I think is the belief that black is associated with bad omens. And then there are other reasons such as black color demands more care, it is comparatively less visible in low light etc which are also considered by few customers. Personally I find black really grand in most Sedans and SUVs.

[volkman10]

Baleno is having Midnight Black (Pearl Metallic) as one of the colors offered to international markets and is being manufactured at the Indian plant. So I guess it is not the technical angle that it is not offered here.

Maybe the Baleno RS will come in this color

[swiftnfurious]

Originally Posted by The Brutailer

Same for Honda.. No black color for the City...

Is this a recent development? My friend has a black City (current gen) and thought it's available.

Originally Posted by TD_GHY

Market research may have pointed out a few things

1. Indians consider black color as bad omen..

2. Black cars are difficult to maintain...

3. Difficult to spot its dimensions at night

Have read that the black cars get much hotter in sun too. All the above means there are very less orders for mass market products and it may not make sense for the manufacturers to get a batch of black and then the dealers having to offer heavy discounts to move this off their yard. The better option obviously, is to remove the option itself. Otherwise, they have to resort to fewer color options so that more people buy this out of force than preference.

[TD_GHY]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Is this a recent development? My friend has a black City (current gen) and thought it's available.

Honda now offers a "Golden Brown" colour which is close to black, but not black.

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Have read that the black cars get much hotter in sun too.

Black absorbs the maximum amount of heat. So while it may be a boon in temperate countries, not so much for a subtropical/tropical country like ours.

[mudhasir]

In late 90s and early 2000, I remember lot of manufacturers offer black colour at a premium price. This is synonymous to what's metallic vs non-metallic colour pricing now-a-days. As a previous owner, I can easily recollect black Scorpio as one of the examples.

Of course, bad omen is one prime reason. I recently came across a reseller who was mentioning that resale value of black cars are considerably less as compared to other colours. This could also be one reason why customers would not opt for black considering future value.

[SmartCat]

When I was 20, I was wondering why people buy cars with dull, boring colours like White, Silver, Grey, Beige etc. My first car was a bright red one which I bought when I was 24 and the second one was deep purple (almost black) which I bought when I was 30.

Now that I have some white hair and some practicality streak running through my blood, my next car will be white in colour. Reason? It's just so easy to maintain. Our family owns a white santro, a white Honda City and a white A-star. We just need to hose it down once a week. But a layer of dust is easily visible on darker coloured cars, and it needs to be cleaned everyday.

Not just that - even scratches really stand out on dark cars, but not so much on white. And finally, white/silver cars either have higher resale value and/or get sold easily. I've had a couple of dealers quote a lower price for my deep purple Civic because of the colour.

Interestingly, this is the colour breakup of all the listed cars on Carwale.com -



Out of 40,000 listed cars, only 2800 cars are black in colour!

[vinit]

My earlier car was black and there are certainly pros and cons of black color.

Cons:

1. Superstition. (This is subjective)
2. Difficult to maintain. Scratches are easily seen.
3. Black color absorbs heat faster. AC consumption is more. But at the same time it cools down quickly too.
4. Visibility is less at night.

Pros

1. Black color ages very slowly. I kept my black car for 10 years and it used to shine in showroom condition always. Many people used to congratulate me for a "new" car even after 5 years. Comparatively white cars look older much earlier.
2. Scratches are easily seen but they can be removed also easily. I often used to fill small scratches with black marker and they just used to vanish in no time.
3. Black is a premium color and it makes your car stand out in the crowd.

But yes, the demand for black color is less in general but as they say, class is always less in number.

[Leoshashi]

Originally Posted by swiftnfurious

Is this a recent development? My friend has a black City (current gen) and thought it's available.

The black colour of the current gen City was discontinued more than a year back!!

Kindly have a look at this link - Click to View

Regards,
Shashi

[autorahul]

Most manufacturers are now offering colours close to black, but not black, and it has to do with numbers. They have the exact break up available, so can see the demand more evidently than us. Swift has a dark grey, which is very symbolic of this. Amaze too has moved from black to Golden Brown metallic.

A colour that I am seeing more and more manufacturers adopt these days is Brown. I also like that Maruti has been introducing some great new colours in their line up like Brezza combinations, Baleno blue and grey, S-Cross blue etc.

Black, if maintained though looks simply stunning. Maybe the numbers don't justify, but I would like manufacturers bring in special editions of it. Especially in matte black.

EDIT:
Baleno RS Alpha in matte black would look stunning, with those DRLs