Elon Promises More Colours
Last week, Tesla announced two new colours for their vehicles coming out of the Berlin Gigafactory - Quick Silver and Midnight Cherry Red.
The two new colours show a depth and range of hues depending on the viewing angle, something only achievable because of the paint shop at Berlin - the company's most advanced painting rig.
Back in 2020, Tesla partnered with Geico Taikisha to create the automated shop - a sustainable and efficient system utilising robotic arms and boasting reduced energy usage. The company's main goal is to continually provide support to improve efficiency across the board.
The paint shop itself is capable of laying up to 13 layers of "highly pigmented" paints, which give a depth to the paint job that isn't possible in other gigafactory locations - yet.
Obviously these beautiful new colour options are making folks in North America a little green with envy; but fear not! Tesla CEO Elon Musk was right there in the replies to Tesla's announcement assuring fans that there were colour options on the way for those of us across the pond from Berlin.
Now, as we just mentioned, no other facility has access to a paint hshop like Berlin's. GigaTexas is reportedly getting an upgrade for theirs in preparation for next year's Cybertruck production - but we're not entirely sure if it's going to be as advanced as the next-level facility in Berlin.
However, that is definitely the plan. In late 2021 Tesla showed off GigaShanghai's paint shop. Those familiar with Tesla paint promo videos will recognize the robotic arms and dip-tanks. But although Shanghai's paint shop was certainly high-tech, it apparently didn't hold a candle to Berlin's - something Tesla stated they would remedy as soon as the new tech was proven in Germany.
So currently, the plan is to slowly upgrade the other Gigafactories to allow for these more advanced paint jobs - which is great, but what will the folks outside of Europe and the Middle East be getting in the meantime?
Well, this is where we'll have to dive into a bit of speculation.
Currently, when ordering a Tesla in North America, you have access to five colours: Pearl White (multi-coat), Midnight Silver (metallic), Deep Blue (metallic), Solid Black, and Red (multi-coat).
From that roster it would likely be easy to make a non-metallic Blue of some sort, or maybe a non-metallic grey, as there's not really an option for that at the moment.
Regardless of what Tesla chooses to put out, it's great to see some attention being paid to colour options after so long. It's often an aspect of Tesla news that gets brushed over in favour of the latest software patch or innovative production equipment.
But car owners like to personalise their vehicles, and new colours will always be exciting.