How The Bold Colors Of The Ford Bronco Could Affect Its Resale Value

Cyber orange, Antimatter Blue, Area 51, Cactus Gray and Rapid Red are just some of the bold names available for the Ford Bronco and Ford Bronco Sport. While these colors are cool and hip and evoke certain feelings amongst consumers, just what do they do the long-term value of the vehicle?

A report by ISeeCars.com reveals the effect exterior color has on a vehicle’s long-term resale value. The results might surprise you and may help you make a decision which Ford Bronco or Ford Bronco Sport color to choose.

“A vehicle’s color is among the primary considerations after shoppers have decided on a make and model,” said iSeeCars Executive Analyst Karl Brauer. “With resale value being the single biggest factor in how much a new vehicle ‘costs’ over the course of ownership, consumers should carefully consider their color choice.”

Mainstream colors, including white, black, and silver, are popular because they are seen as the safest colors with the widest appeal. But are those the best colors for helping a vehicle maintain its value?

“There’s a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy going on here, with many consumers picking these mainstream colors not because they like them, but because they assume everyone else does,” said Brauer. “This makes white, black, and silver appear to be in high demand, yet our analysis confirms that more obscure colors tend to hold their value better than common and popular colors.”

Related story: 2021 Ford Bronco Sport has bold colors and makes a bold entry.

How Color Choice Can Affect The Ford Bronco’s Value
With the Ford Bronco having some bold color choices, this could impact the long-term value of the Bronco when it hits the used car lots in several years.

For all vehicles, generically, not just SUVs, ISeeCars reports yellow has the highest retention value. See the chart below for more details.

“Yellow may not be a widely desired car color, but there are enough people who want yellow, versus the number of yellow new cars being ordered, to make yellow cars more desirable than others on the used market,” said Brauer. “In fact, yellow is among the colors with the lowest vehicle share, and is most commonly a color for sports cars and other low-volume vehicles that hold their value relatively well.”

For SUVs, the trend holds true as the more garish colors and less common seem to hold their value more than the traditional colors. This bodes well for the Bronco owners who ordered Cyber Orange or Velocity Blue or Rapid Red.

“The low depreciation of yellow, green, and orange SUVs reflects the imbalance between how many people are picking these colors compared to how many buyers want them,” said Brauer. “These colors are more often associated with fast cars like sports and muscle cars and help make SUVs a less boring vehicle choice.”

The report says that popular colors, which are the grayscale colors of black, white, gray, and silver, each depreciates slightly faster than average.

However, not studied is the off-shoot colors of these variants like the Bronco’s Cactus Grey or Area 51. Since these colors are not the normal gray like Iconic Silver they may hold their value longer. It’s all about supply and demand when it comes down to it.

“These popular colors are abundant in the used car marketplace, and there is a balance of supply and demand,” said Brauer.

Related story: Ford Bronco will drive a booming aftermarket industry around customization.

What color Bronco are you ordering and why? Do you care about resale value? Leave me your comments below.

Jimmy Dinsmore has been an automotive journalist for more than a decade and been a writer since the high school. His Driver’s Side column features new car reviews and runs in several newspapers throughout the country. He is also co-author of the book “Mustang by Design” and “Ford Trucks: A Unique Look at the Technical History of America’s Most Popular Truck”. Also, Jimmy works in the social media marketing world for a Canadian automotive training aid manufacturing company. Follow Jimmy on Facebook, Twitter, at his special Ford F-150 coverage on Twitter and LinkedIn. You can read the most of Jimmy's stories by searching Torque News Ford for daily Ford vehicle report.