In the fairly conformist world of the automobile, the boss of this great brand has taken a bold decision to say the least. This color so highly prized by buyers will no longer appear in its catalogue…
When buying a vehicle, users do not all have the same selection criteria. Some focus on design, what you see first on a car. Others focus more on equipment and comfort, mostly inside the vehicle.
A third category of people is more attached to the brand, sometimes out of a desire to buy a national product or because it is a guarantee of reliability, robustness, performance… But once the choice has been made on a precise model, another criterion comes to slip into the reflection: that of color.
It is very personal, and manufacturers have understood this. For several years, the range of colors of cars on sale has expanded significantly. Still, despite the proliferation of colors offered, three “historic” colors are still preferred by customers: white, black and gray. So when a famous car manufacturer announces that it is going to stop producing cars in a popular color, it’s like a bombshell.
A surprising explanation: “Gray has no place”
This is exactly what the boss of Fiat did a few days ago. Olivier François, CEO of the Italian firm for two years, announced that gray would simply be removed from the brand’s catalog! Quite the opposite when you know that gray is the best-selling car color in France and Europe. But then, why such a decision?
Aware of the risk taken – we are still talking about a brand that makes tens of billions in turnover per year -, Olivier François wants to dare to be different. ”Gray is the favorite color of customers, he slipped during a marketing operation carried out in a small Italian village south of Genoa. “For French, German and Japanese cars alike. But here we are talking about Italy. Look: country of joy, optimism, love, passion, life! So , there’s no place for gray. We’re going to change the rules.”
To make this ”Operation No Grey” more spectacular, the boss of Fiat took part in the staging. Olivier François got behind the wheel of a Fiat 600, the brand’s brand new model, gray in color. Then a crane lifted the city car into the air before plunging it into a gigantic vat of orange paint! The story does not say if it was then cleaned, but Fiat will have at least managed to make the buzz around its new model. To see now if by depriving themselves of the most sought-after car color in Europe, Fiat sales will follow…