Comment by 9rx
2 days ago
I'd say farm equipment has embraced the same "meaner" trend, but has also doubled down on bright, vibrant colours.
Noticeably, though, the colours don't date the equipment. 20 years ago the colours were the same, and 20 years from now it is very likely that the brand new ones will still feature the same colours still.
That hasn't been the case for passenger vehicles. They are famous for having a colour available this year and gone the next, so if you have one of those no-longer-available colours it sticks out like a sore thumb as looking old. Which is what I believe the consumer truly fears – owning a car that looks old and dated.
The blacks and whites have remained consistently available, so it is far less risky.
Farm and construction equipment the colors are dominated by brand. Team Green Equipment versus Team Red Equipment versus Team Yellow Equipment versus Team Orange Equipment, pick your side. Each side is effectively monochromatic within whatever their brand tolerance is for their brand's color. John Deere's green is a very specific single Pantone shade and has stuck to it consistently as long as color standards have allowed them to be that consistent.
From a buyer's perspective there's still a choice of color if you have no allegiance to brand, but the monochromatic tribalism of each brand (and their loyalists) is strangely fascinating.
> Team Orange Equipment
Case in point. The last of the ACGO tractors in orange now look old and dated even though the otherwise _identical_[1] Massey Ferguson tractors from the same era still look relatively modern.
[1] Technically they had different engines, but that isn't visible anyway.