We’ve been wondering, as matte paint care experts, are matte cars here to stay? As few as 10 years ago, a matte paint job could also be called a trailer park paint job. The flat finish looked like primer. To many, it meant that the owner of the car was financially incapable of giving their vehicle a complete paint job and that the shiny clear coat had been foregone. More recently however the perception and quality of matte painted cars changed. The flat paint that was once thought of as bottom of the barrel was becoming a symbol of customized luxury.
NFL players, rappers, Justin Beiber… and all sorts of wealthy people started buying matte cars. Once matte finishes were popular amongst wealthy car owners, their reputation as difficult to deal with began to spread. Maybe everyone else assumed that matte paint was just too hard to maintain and that only people with personal car detailers and a staff of maids were equipped to handle the paint jobs.
Word got around that you couldn’t wax matte paint and most people decided that no matter how awesome the flat paint looked, they just didn’t want to bother with it.
The Path of Matte
Originally, a car could really only be matte if it had been custom painted (think “Pimp my Ride”). Then factory OEM matte paint jobs started happening in extremely high end cars like Lamborghinis and Ferraris. It wasn’t until luxury automotive manufacturers started producing matte cars that they were seen on the streets instead of in dreams, on tracks, or in car magazines. BMW’s Frozen paint and Mercedes’ Magno paint became popular, and with that came a demand from the average consumer for matte cars. Now, anyone can get a matte car.
Companies like Hyundai and Dodge have not only introduced matte cars, but are currently expanding the color and style options for their matte finishes. Trusted auto paint manufacturers like PPG are doubling down on their matte paint selection and they’re taking strides to train painters and detailers on how to safely care for flat finishes. They want to make sure their teams are knowledgeable about matte care because they’re confident that the popularity of matte cars will increase.
The Future
Every year at SEMA we see more and more matte cars displayed. OEMs use SEMA to display technology and concepts that will be making it into production vehicles down the line. Based on what we’ve seen, it’s safe to say that more OEMs will be making more flat finished cars. The path of matte cars, from high end vehicles, to luxury, to consumer, is the same path followed by automotive technology we now expect in every car. Navigation systems and microsuede were previously present in only the fanciest of all fancy cars. Almost every new car now has navigation and even GM is including microsuede in some of their vehicles. Matte paint isn’t a fad, it’s a trend. An increasingly popular and rapidly growing one, that we think is here to stay.
With the widespread availability of matte wraps and the increasing selection of factory painted matte cars, we’re confident that we’ll see more flat finishes as time passes. Caring for matte paint and wraps is no longer terrifying; we’ve developed a complete line of products to clean, prep, and protect matte paint and wraps. So if you like the look of the flat finish and are in the market for a new car, don’t hesitate to go matte. Just this week we had the opportunity to detail a 2016 AMG S63 coupe in Magno Cashmere White. Here are some photos of this brand new beauty:
