The strangely patriotic reason why Fiat banned itself from ever making any gray cars
- Fiat will no longer produce gray cars
- The reason is entirely patriotic
- The company’s explanation is strange, but understandable
Published on Apr 13, 2025 at 6:00 AM (UTC+4)
by Alessandro Renesis
Last updated on Apr 09, 2025 at 1:44 PM (UTC+4)
Edited by
Alessandro Renesis
Fiat is no longer selling gray cars, globally and not just in Italy, and the reason is patriotic.
Customers who were thinking about getting a gray Panda or 500 will have to come up with an alternative solution.
It’s a bold call, in a way, because gray is one of the most popular color options.
But the reason actually makes sense.
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The strange but understandable reason why Fiat banned gray
Fiat has decided to ban gray cars altogether.
Just like you can’t buy a pink Ferrari, you now can no longer buy a gray Fiat.
The reason, according to a Fiat CEO Olivier François, has to do with the fact Italy is a colorful place, and gray just doesn’t cut it.
“Italy is joy, optimism, passion, life. And what has grey got to do with all that? Nothing,” he said.
We can see the point, and in order to make that point, Fiat submerged its last-ever new gray car into a giant bath of orange paint.
Italy is known for its Tricolore – green, white and red – but also for the light blue shade the country uses for a lot of things.
Most sports teams in Italy, for example, use light blue as their official color.
This is a tribute to the House of Savoy, the Italian royal family that ruled the country until 1946.
When automakers ban options and colors
Generally speaking, automakers allow customers to do nearly anything they want with their cars, but there are exceptions.
Ferrari is famous for that.
The company won’t sell you a pink car, and the Italian supercar manufacturer isn’t too keen when it comes to custom paint jobs either.
The Maranello-based marque has also repeatedly stated that it does not like customers changing their paint schemes.
In 2014, electronic music star DJ Deadmau5 wrapped his supercar in an amusing scheme based on the Nyan Cat meme, complete with the space cat and its rainbow smoke trail.
Unsurprisingly, the Scuderia saw it and very quickly and rapidly sent the music star a cease-and-desist letter directly from their legal team.
So, now you know. Don’t wrap your Ferrari in cat graphics.
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