Cadillac Escalade

Color changes the perceived size of a car more than most buyers realize, and getting it wrong costs you. An SUV that should look imposing can look squat and heavy in the wrong color. A compact car that should look athletic can look like a toy. The mechanics behind why this happens are specific enough that you can use them deliberately rather than just hoping you guessed right at the configurator...

Every few years a car company rolls something onto an auto show stage that makes the crowd go quiet for a second before the applause starts. The proportions are perfect. The surfaces are sculpture. The details are unlike anything currently on the road. Then two years later the production version arrives and something has happened to it. The roofline is higher. The wheel arches are smaller. The front end has been softened. The car that made people stop talking is now a car people drive past without looking at. This happens so consistently it might as well be a law of automotive physics...