Why aren there more pink cars?
There were pink cars in the late 50s (or two-tone/three-tone cars that had pink). There were also poodle skirts and bouffant hairdos. I read a fascinating article in the NYT, I think (can’t find it in the archives) on how car companies develop color schemes for their cars. Oddly enough, they looked to women’s underwear for inspiration. Apparently underwear for women is the test lab for what colors are going to become popular—after they catch on in that market, they start showing up in clothes, and then in other things like cars. I’d speculate that sex specificity also must have something to do with it—in the 50s, pink wasn’t so established as a girlish color. But we also don’t see many purple cars, kelly-green cars, or orange cars. A car’s a big, long-term purchase and there is probably widespread reluctance to go with any color that people might get tired of. So we get a lot of more muted colors. Unlike personal electronics, which manufacturers want you to replace frequently.
Japan tends to offer more pink cars for sale as well, mainly the tiny kei-class cars. Hell, the fact that there are Hello Kitty special edition cars means Japan is a more welcoming market for pink cars than North America, though apparently cherry blossoms have something to do with it too.
