Car colors, not just gears, shift

DETROIT, April 11 (UPI) -- Color-shifting cars are a new craze among U.S. drivers willing to pay extra for, say, a black car whose wheel wells might glisten in purple or gold.

The major automakers have entire departments coming up with color-shifting variations on well-known colors, CNNMoney reported Wednesday.

"Black is going to get more special, and it's going to surprise and delight," says Susan Lampinen, Ford's chief designer for color and materials.

The new black will be used across Ford's lineup.

Color-shifting's secret lies in extra layers of coatings embedded with tiny metal flakes, CNNMoney said.

The cars have a second translucent layer painted on top of the basecoat. The layer contains flecks of aluminum that can be one other color, several other colors, or colorless but refracting light in ways that create colors.

JDS Uniphase Corp. of Milpitas, Calif., created a "scorched penny" color for Toyota Motor Corp.'s 2006 box-shaped Scion, which shifts from bright copper to nearly black as the viewing angle changes.

General Motors Corp. is developing totally flat colors, with caveats on how to take care of the vehicles so nobody waxes them, said Chris Webb, an exterior color and trend designer.

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