We are doing quite well with the Sand Dune on XC40/EX40. Particularly with a light interior. But I prefer the Bright Dusk to it - to me the Sand Dune is a downgrade.

I actually quite liked the Moss Yellow. My guess is that we are losing it because of where the paint is sourced from.

 

People apparently want their car to camouflage into our winter streets

 

My coworker had a good idea that they should cycle a special fun color each year on some of the models. That would would work well because even as a leftover, someone would love it and be drawn to it since it was no longer available. He also questioned if maybe the Sand Dune color sold better in other markets. But yeah, Bright Dusk is a spoiler for both Sand Dune and Silver Dawn. I suppose either could be okay, but neither is better than Bright Dusk (except on the P*...)

 

I always thought Volvo should offer heritage colors for a fee. Many European automakers let you go out of range if you are willing to pay for it as an option. Volvo has some great past colors, far better than the 50 shades of boring currently on offer.

 

Volvo doesn't manufacture the paint, but their paint process is unique. So they don't have any control over what colours are available.

 

Wait what lol. You are telling me Volvo is a paying customer to a paint company? And they do not have a choice of the colors they are supplied with. That sounds crazy. If that is the case they should look at a new supplier. Mercedes paint seems very nice for example lol.

 

We just bought a 2025 XC40 Ultra in Sand Dune and love the color although it takes some time to warm up to it. We got the blonde interior and dark trim, which help a lot to balance the color out visually - as do the 20" wheels. That said, we would have gladly taken Bright Dusk if it were still available. Sand Dune is still better than the "primer" colors (like Vapor Gray) you see everywhere these days. A unique limited color every year (like Toyota does with the 4Runner TRD Pro) would be really cool.

 

Saw one of these today, moss yellow is hot. They also had a sand dune XC40 which wasn't pictured worthy lol.

 

Sand Dune… 😝

 

I think Sand Dune is a good idea but a missed opportunity... it should have been less Vomity and more ochre / turmeric / earthy for the fun 1970s feel. The flat beige color works well on the Toyota trucks, for example, but looks weird on a refined Volvo crossover, whereas a richer, more orange or yellow tone would have hearkened back to some great vintage Volvo colors.

 

I don't know if it is still the case, but I have heard before that Volvo uses 7 layers. 2 base layers, 3 color layers, and 2 layers of clear coat. That is a hefty paint job.

 

And hence the thickness.

 

I saw a sand dune EX90 today and was non-plussed. The only reason it looked interesting was because: new model and new/clean. It will look bad as it ages, I'm sure. Easy way to make an 80-90K car boring. I suspect on the used market people are going to do wraps to brighten these up. Are the interior colors rich at least?

 

Colors come and go. why would this look any worse than this:

I'm not a fan of tan in general but that 240 still looks pretty good. it's not like these are radical departures, it's just fashion.

 

I'll bet the new Aurora Silver will be a hit on this car. I think it will do well on pretty much everything.

The Bright Dusk would be a better choice on an EX90 in my opinion. This just doesn't pop.

 

I was very fond of Silver Dawn - kind of a warm silver that shot the gap between a cold silver and Bright Dusk.

Seen Aurora live? How does it compare?

 

I would love to see something like Caper Green come back. That's an unusual earthy color that would play well with Volvo's brand image - not hearing aid beige.

Any Caper Green fans out there?

 

I would love to see something like Caper Green come back. That's an unusual earthy color that would play well with Volvo's brand image - not hearing aid beige.

View attachment 287094

Any Caper Green fans out there?

Check out the new Forest Lake green that's coming to at least the XC60 and some others. I don't think it's slated for the EX90/XC90 yet though. There was also Pine Green offered for a few years.

 

Well if the '90's aesthetic was back you'd see actual colors! Teal. Inferno Red. Dark Garnet. Bright yellow. Nice forest greens. Electric Blue in addition to midnight blue. None of these blah colors.

And, while it's true that pretty much every car maker has the same choices from year to year as the others - it's not true that it's the only colors available. Any color that's ever existed is available and if you chose it as a production color it can be had in bulk. My dad and I have painted many cars over the years - I think the current colors are just a symptom of the culture - like everyone has the same color siding and flooring options. And when we painted - 3 coats primer, 7 to 9 of color in pre clear coat, or 5 color plus 3 of clear coat. Might as well have it last!

Our 740 was blue green metallic. Beautiful. No rust despite Iowa road salt. Too bad the interior looked dingy all the time. Suspension and tranny were golden but the engine, related components, exhaust, and electrical gremlins just got too expensive for us at the time, and when the engine seized I had no place to work on it. But '90 had light blue, silver, hot red, dark merlot red, dark blue, grey, black, gold, and white, to name just the ones I remember - much more colorful than now. Almost bought a hot red 740 turbo wagon...

 

There's quite a bit of good things Volvo does that they don't capitalize on marketing with. They forget to properly communicate it to us with confidence so I personally sometime lose track of what's still being done.

 

To me sand dune is horrible. I love the mulberry red, the pine grey, the bright dusk

 

It's not 'what other brand uses a Volvo colour' - rather what other brands use colours that Volvo uses.

I don't think that Volvo has an exclusive on any colour - but it's likely that Akzo Nobel and PPG are its biggest suppliers. Ford definitely uses the same colours, but so does BMW, Honda, I can go on.

 

I bought my EX30 just for Moss Yellow. Otherwise, I might have ended up with another brand I think. In any case, Sand Dune is not my favourite, but on a Cross Country it is not so bad, I must say.

 

I bought my EX30 just for Moss Yellow. Otherwise, I might have ended up with another brand I think. In any case, Sand Dune is not my favourite, but on a Cross Country it is not so bad, I must say.

View attachment 289767

The vibe of a Cross Country always works well with earth tone colours actually.

 

History repeats right? Doesn't mean it was any less of a bad idea back then either =-D

 

Man they're pushing the sand dune hard (not really hard... but the fact that they picked it as one of the six colors to share when it's absolutely the worst! =-D

 

I saw a forest lake XC40 at my local store last week. Wow, that is a great one. That along with Amber and you've got a knockout.

 

Amber interior is gone.