Worryingly, a VW-loving friend considered straying from the brand while looking for a new car recently. I eventually managed to pull him round, of course, but I was interested to find out what had caused his little ‘wobble’. Apparently he was bored by the dull as ditch water colour-schemes. True enough, while other European manufacturers have a bit of fun with their colour palettes, the German makers seem to have gone all conservative…

Before the advent of all those dark metallics, Volkswagen boasted one of the coolest colour ranges of any manufacturer. The range of hues offered always seemed to reflect the fashions of the time, with the hip and happening Sixties featuring all-time favourite pastel shades such as Pearl White, Bahama Blue and Panama Beige.

It was all change for the Seventies, of course, and while the likes of Abba and Brotherhood of Man was ambushing our eardrums Volkswagen’s reds, oranges, greens and yellows were blasting our retinas. Bali Yellow, Sage Green and Brilliant Orange were all particularly vivid shades from this period.

At the end of the day colour has a lot to do with personal taste, and arguably our car colour choice has a lot to do with our personality. White, say the boffins, is chosen by people who appreciate order and like to feel fresh and clean, while black represents power – which is probably why it’s the most popular colour for luxury vehicles.

Silver is all about innovation and modernity – which is possibly why VW decided to paint its Last Edition Beetles in this colour to make them more contemporary. Meanwhile, red is for confident go-getters and blue is chosen by those who crave stability. Although I am not sure how this works with ‘doom blue’ – the car salesman’s nightmare non-metallic mid-blue that no one seems to want…

Yellow is chosen by happy people, or those likely to take risks, while subtle shades such as grey are picked by shrinking violets who like to blend into the background rather than stand out from the crowd. We wonder what all that says about VW lovers that pick startling hues such as Cliff Green?

In a nutshell, while one colour will be loved by some, it will offend or totally bore another. But has VW really become more conservative? Certainly it seems its colour range has shrunk – just take a look at the bizarre Harlequin Polo to see how it’s narrowed since the early ‘90s.

What do you think – and what would you rate as your favourite VW colour of all time? Post your votes on the blog!

Ian

The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of VW Heritage.