[TrackDay]

“We all have our imperfections. But I’m human, and you know, it’s important to concentrate on other qualities besides outer beauty.”
— Beyoncé Knowles

We now live in an era where we have come to accept true beauty and not judge on external appearances. But coming to cars, Where does that stand ? Would you take a beautiful car which had a ton of special edition stickers from the factory ? Would you still go ahead and love that car because of it's inner beauty

Besides special editions some vehicles come with graphics by default or at least during certain periods of their production. Was this ever a turn off ? Do register your opinions.

I can share mine with a Petrol Xeta we had with blue decals some time back. This came from the factory itself and folks often asked us the meaning behind 'Xeta' and why we got the blue sticker work done. There was also an instance where a cop mistook it for aftermarket stickering till I explained it to him. Do you have any similar experience ?

Do share pictures of cars sold with such graphics/stickers. Also was this a crucial factor in your purchase ?

[click]

A hard NO. Art is subjective.

Forget the graphics, every manufacturer has at least 4-5 colours to choose from to appeal across the range of people. Why then project your designers perception of what decals the car needs to have on buyers.

If you really wanna showcase them, sell the decals as accessory and make extra money.

[saisree]

Voted for hefty discounts @30%. Will use the hot water treatment to remove the stickers and do a 3M polish.

[Eshan Joshi]

Voted for depends.

If it is something that performs like this then yes!




Otherwise if it is some weird special edition or racer boy edition, then no.

[Sanidhya mukund]

Voted NO.

Body graphics/vinyl decals look downright cheap and disgusting, especially when they are done tastelessly. While most cars that come with them have them as a dealer level accessory, there are a few that have them from the factory. These are generally plane-Jane body models that would look way too bland if it weren't for the body graphics. Here, graphics don't seem to be doing much because the car anyway look like a boring box on wheels. Perfect examples of 'lipstick on a pig'.
Present examples are the Bolero and Eeco, while past examples include cars like the Qualis, Omni, Sumo etc:

[Tapish]

I think the only graphics I ever liked on a car was when Maruti decided to spruce up the 800in the early 2000's. That was mostly due to the novelty factor.

Never liked anything after that!

[railfanwithk750]

Voted for 'depends'. Some of them do come with classy, subtle graphics that do add to the character of a car.

Some tasteful designs (all images credit to respective owners)

Harrier Camo:


Scorpio mHawk:


Occasionally a line here or a stripe there doesn't hurt as long as it's not too loud:


Ignis comes with a full menu of factory wraps to choose from.

[GTO]

Graphics can be done well; it's only the tasteless stuff by Maruti and gang giving them a bad name.

The kind of graphics my car would have!

Source

I absolutely love the graphical stickers we see on some well-modded cruisers. Like this:


Or Harley flames

Source

Chirag's Modified Supercars Thread has some nice ones...and some quirky ones:

[saikarthik]

Voted for "Depends on the sticker and vehicle".

If it is a worthy special edition and something exclusive, it becomes a personal choice apart from the regular variant. Of course, it needs to look good and the finish must be good. I won't mind if it is like this,

[ash22]

Strong NO.
These stickers may look good initially but in the longer run, It will damage the paint and the sticker portion would get faded (Handful samples of Scorpio MHawk where the bonnet portion sticker would become brown). It is better to have a clean car for years without sticker package.

Below is my neighbor's car. He also owns M800 which he just restored. Seems the balance stickers from the M800 got a new home (Grand i10).

[88_TANK_88]

My current car has some stickers I myself placed. I like to take inspiration from motorsports and have put some subtle and not so subtle strickers and decals all around the car.
But from factory, I prefer no stickers or decals. Stickers put by myself allow me to show my preferences and personalization but most efforts from factory look too generalized and gaudy at times.
On the other hand, I loved the mountain outline decals on previous generation Endeavors. The theme matched the purpose.

[sramanat]

I've seen a few Dusters with decals of what appears to be a compass around the rear door. That looks really cool.

[tharian]

My Ford Aspire Sports came with stickers on the bottom of the doors with a cheesy 'S' on it, and on the rear bumper corner.
I didn't look too bad, but I removed the bumper stickers on the second day itself and removed the door side stickers after a year since one side got torn a bit after a biker hit the side or I would have probably left it as it is.

[1.2TSI7DSG]

I would not disagree to buy a car just because of stickers. Scorpio, bolero look extremely bland without stickers. So if done correctly, I am ok.

Let's come the other context: will I pay extra to buy a car with factory sticker job- NEVER.

[DicKy]

Voted for "Depends on sticker and vehicle". Though have to say atleast a couple of years back I used to be of the No gang.

Still remember me going "Eow" when BHPian @hillram gave a tasteful decal job to his Toyota Corona. Seeing the sticker job that every van/SUV/MUV had to get in the 2000s, used to dislike stickers as IMO then, it used to rob off the clean looks. Also the stickers of the Scorpio mHawk and Safari Storme edition would go bad and fade over time. Also hated the special edition sticker jobs done on ordinary cars. The yearly Maruti editions, even stuff like the sticker jobs on Figo/Freestyle.

Then a few years back, nostalgia kicked in. Memories of pickups and SUVs sporting side stickers in Riyadh had some effect.

Plus saw an Ignis one day with a side stripe that accentuated the retro looks. Almost like the one below.


Then there is this one. The LC300 model is yet to be unveiled, still one of the scoop pics is of the base variant GX (most popular in GCC market) with the side stripes.


So yeah, am a changed man. Boxy hatches, pickup trucks, SUVs. All look good with stickers, though I once hated them. Actually am daydreaming of having the next gen Scorpio with side stickers.