Yasuhito Oba works at Nissan and has a pretty cool job — he’s a color designer for the Japanese automaker. Part of Oba’s job is, of course, the creation of new colors for the marque, something he recently broke down for The Drive in an interview. Oba created Nissan’s new “Aurora Blue Metallic” shade for the redesigned 2025 Murano and revealed a lot more thought goes into a new color for a car than you might think.
Nissan Wanted A “High-Tech” Blue For The New Murano
“When we develop a new color, we’re thinking about what makes a vehicle stand out and how it connects with the driver. The first-generation Murano featured a stunning, bright Sunlit Copper paint when it debuted in 2003. So, for the 2025 model, we wanted something just as bold but with a modern edge.”
Ob says that Aurora Blue Metallic delivered the “cool factor” that Nissan wanted for its new, high-tech, modern SUV that delivers the same impression. “It’s definitely not just another grayscale SUV.” There’s a lot of those, to be sure. Consumers regularly choose monochromatic color options for vehicles under the impression that it may help resale value, out of personal preference, or simply because they don’t want to stand out. In fact, an overwhelming majority of cars on the road today are in greyscale, and the evidence is everywhere. Just look around the next parking lot you’re in. Hard data abounds as well. Edmunds’ data says the top five car colors in the US as of 2024 were (in order of popularity) white, black, grey, silver, and blue, which made up just 9% of cars on the road.
Color Is Everything
Oba says the development process for Aurora Blue Metallic took more than two years, which is apparently very quick for a new hue. “We have plenty of blues in Nissan’s lineup, but none like this. The biggest challenge was delivering the desired product in a relatively short amount of time,” he said. “Creating a brand-new hue from scratch meant many months of fine-tuning the formula, making tiny tweaks over and over to get it just right. The result: something unique not just to Nissan, but to the industry.” To the color engineer, the juice is worth the squeeze. Oba says that color isn’t just about aesthetics. It also plays a role in “how a vehicle feels to its driver.”
“We put the same level of thought into paint as we do into design and technology. Aurora Blue Metallic was created to give Murano a more premium, distinctive presence on the road. Every vehicle, no matter the price point, deserves a color palette that reflects its character and what its drivers want.”
TopSpeed’s Take
This Murano’s blue is a good one, but even it is a relatively safe bet, at least according to the Edmunds data above. Blue is the most popular non-monochromatic color, but even that color is a relatively tiny share of new cars on the road. Unfortunately, that’s just how the world is. We say get the cool color, even if it costs extra. Cars are about self-expression to those who enjoy them, and like an outfit, sometimes, you need to throw a little color in there. The world needs more of it.
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