Smokey Granite Mica or SGM is back for 2017!!! At least on the GS, Nebula gray appears to be gone.

http://www.lexus.com/models/GS

 

I don't mean to sound rude, Hoovey, but is it really THAT big an addition, though? The majority of new vehicles on the road today are painted white, silver, gray, black or shades in between. Gray and black are as common today as campaign speeches LOL.

Of course, I realize that a lot of people like gray and black, so more power to them.

 

I'm very happy to see that! Interestingly it only looks to be on the GS, everything else is still Nebula.

 

Yes and no. Since it was dropped for Nebula Gray in MY2012 there's been the question of when a dark charcoal might return to the Lexus paint palette. SGM was extremely popular if you remember when L-Finesse began in 2006. Not everyone goes to the Lexus website and browses model year changes, so this is simply imformative and will brighten a few peoples days. Obviously we know where you stand with 'funeral home colors', but don't worry, when Lexus announces a bright purple I'll be sure to make an announcement for you

 

While we're on that subject (Lexus purple colors)...they did have a nice dark purple (Amythist) for the 2Gen SC. Like so many other nice colors, it was dropped.

I once owned a Lexus IS300 in bright (Solar) yellow...to my knowledge (outside of the limited-production LF-A), the only mainstream production car Lexus ever did in yellow.

Yes, you're right that I'm generally not a fan of morgue colors, but there is no denying the general popularity of gray and black today on production cars. Regardless of what either you or I think, it does make sales and money for manufacturers.

 

As someone who has owned interesting colored Lexus vehicles and "morgue" color Lexus vehicles...there are reasons why they focus on variations on a theme, especially in a luxury car.

When you purchase something expensive, you want it to have longevity. The problem with bright, "IN" colors is that they don't have longevity. They get outdated, they aren't what the mass of people want and that hurts resale. All you have to do is look at values of used luxury cars....white, black, silver, grey and to a lesser extent gold are sometimes thousands of dollars more than the less desirable colors like red, burgundy, green, etc. My 2003 ES was a beautiful black garnet pearl which was maybe my favorite color car I've ever had. When I was looking for my 2010 ES and I went to trade it they took 20% off the trade in value because of the color. Had it been silver it would have been worth a couple thousand more. No joke, one big reason why I sold it to a family member.

Its like going out and buying a $1,300 suit. Do you buy a conservative fabric that will stand the test of time, or something trendy and a cut thats trendy? I have conservative suits that are 7-8 years old I can still wear and they look current. Same way with a conservative colored luxury car.

 

Yes, it's a huge deal! Not only because it's a beautiful, rich, deep color that sold well, but because retired colors rarely ever make a comeback. This is historical! I also made a post of this returning color a few weeks ago in the GS forum. Moves like this make these cars really tempting (to me). Now if they'd offer an Aquamarine IS, I'd be in business.

 

Yes, aqua, teal, and turquoise are indeed beautiful shades. They were popular in the late 1980s through the 90s, but we haven't seen much of them lately.

 

Indeed. It's interesting with car colors. There seems to be some certainty many old colors come back into style again. Similar to clothing. I'm hoping those medium blues start showing up again. Would look great on a modern car body.

 

I'm seeing some of that. Drove a Genesis G90 in a very nice medium blue. More to come on that!

 

^ I think luxury car buyers are just too conservative today, maybe as a society we are just too conservative, we want to blend in, not stand out. I miss the wild palette of colors you saw on cars back in the 50's/60's and 70's.

This lack of color today might also be due to the Germans taking over the luxury car market. If you look at what Mercedes Benz was selling back in the 60's/70's, compared to a Cadillac it was VERY conservative(IMO ugly) style wise, usually painted silver, black, white, brown, or some other "serious" color, because the Germans are "serious" people. Of course as Benz and BMW took over the luxury car landscape in the 70's/80's/90's, people kind of adopted this "serious" German ethos in picking car colors as well.

 

That is an excellent point I hadn't considered. There certainly was a color influence from the serious and businesslike German makes. I have to hand it to Lexus for offering Ultrasonic Blue on the IS and bigger GS, even though it's been sporadic and reserved for the F/Sport models.

 

my smoky granite has been a biotch to maintain.

It's silver for me from now on.

 

Thank goodness. I turned down multiple good deals on my IS because the cars were Nebula Grey, which in my opinion was one of the worst colors I had ever seen. The car looked so anonymous with it, especially when it was cloudy out. Although I don't like greys overall, Smoky granite was a beautiful shade of it.

 

nebula grey does look like primer