Why are pearl white cars often more expensive than other colors?

Among the car colors distributed by manufacturers on the market, white cars are often the most popular with consumers. According to recent reports from Axalta - a company specializing in providing coatings for car lines, white cars sold on the market in recent years have always accounted for the highest proportion.

White exterior cars are often the most popular among consumers. Photo: Ba Hung

For example, in 2021, Axalta's survey and analysis results showed that white cars sold on the market accounted for 38%, while black cars accounted for 19% and gray cars accounted for 15%. Other colors all had a rate of less than 10%.

These figures partly show consumer preferences in choosing car colors as well as the popularity of white cars today. However, although they are also white, in reality, pearl white and metallic white car models often have higher prices than regular white painted car models.

In Vietnam, this reality can be seen in Toyota's product catalog. Specifically, in every Toyota car line in Vietnam, if customers choose to buy a pearl white car, the selling price will be 8 - 10 million VND higher than regular white or other colors. So, why are pearl white cars often more expensive than other colors (!?)

Pearl white cars are often more expensive than other colors. Photo: Ba Hung

According to PV's research, this partly comes from the paint ingredients and production costs. Normally, car paint can be divided into two types: regular paint and metallic paint. These two types of paint have clear differences and can be seen with the naked eye. With regular paint, there will be no metallic elements to create shine. This type of paint is often cheaper than metallic paint and the cost of painting is also lower, because after spraying the color on the base layer, you only need to spray clear paint to cover the thread color.

Meanwhile, with metallic white paint, the ingredients also include metal powder… to create a special shine when exposed to sunlight or light, making the car’s appearance more glossy and beautiful. The production cost of this type of paint will also be higher than that of regular white paint.

Pearl white paint has a more complicated color mixing process, and when scratched, it is more difficult to restore than other colors. Photo: Ba Hung

Pearl white paint is even more special than metallic white paint, when mixed with ceramic crystals. It helps to reflect and refract light very well. In addition, when exposed to light, it will become shiny like a pearl. That is why manufacturers call this type of paint pearl white. But this type of paint has to be traded for a higher production cost compared to the two types of regular white paint and metallic white. Therefore, cars painted in pearl white are often more expensive than other colors.

According to a technician from a car company in Vietnam, pearl white paint also has a more complicated color mixing process. If a pearl white car is scratched, it is more difficult to repair and repaint than regular white.