Wanderlust

Tag: Color Focus – Audi

  • Color Focus: Goodwood Green Pearl Effect – Z6X

    Color Focus: Goodwood Green Pearl Effect – Z6X

    CODE: Z6X

    TYPE: Metallic uni

    CONTENT ARCHIVE: Goodwood Green

    SUMMARY:

    Aud’s Goodwood Green (goodwoodgrünperleffekt; metallic UNI; Z6X; Audi) was introduced in the early 2000s, quickly making its way to the RS 4 Avant (B5), then TT (Mk1), A4 and S4 (B6), S6 and RS 6 (C5) and S8. Unlike other Audi greens, Goodwood was close enough to British Racing Green to be universally appealing. No doubt this wasn’t lost on Audi designers and marketers who named the color for the historic British Estate that plays home to a historic racing circuit plus incredibly exclusive racing and automotive events.

    Despite the appeal of British Racing Green-like colors in the market, Goodwood didn’t prove to perform particularly highly when it came to install rates. Cars offered with Goodwood as standard remain relatively rare in their respective places, however the color has done much better within the Audi exclusive special paint program where it remains a popular choice.

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  • Color Focus: Audi Suzuka Grey – LY7F

    Color Focus: Audi Suzuka Grey – LY7F

    CODE: LY7F / M1

    TYPE: Pearl Effect

    CONTENT ARCHIVE: Suzuka Grey

    SUMMARY:

    So far as we can tell, Suzuka Grey Pearl Effect (SuzukaGrau; pearl effect; LY7F / M1 ; Audi) first started appearing on quattro GmbH company cars at the Audi factory facilities in Ingolstadt and Neckarsulm during the early B7 RS 4 days. Typically paired with black optics, it’s been mostly an RS model only offering here and there over the years, most recently being a model year color palette offering on the RS e-tron GT.

    Likely named for the Suzuka Circuit, a 3.6-mile road course located in Suzuka City, Mia Prefecture Japan. The track is home to F1’s Japanese Grand Prix amongst other races, and it’s operated by Honda Mobilityland, a subsidiary of Honda Motor Company.

    As greys go, Suzuka Grey is so light that it is often mistaken for white. Look closely though and you’ll find it’s slightly darker than white and slightly cooler than a desaturated grey of equivalent brightness. In as much, it’s a subtle shade that leaves most guessing thanks to a strong if-you-know-you-know quotient. Its strong association with Audi RS cars also gives it an extra level of performance cred… at least in Audi circles.

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  • Color Focus: Audi RS Blue – M8

    Color Focus: Audi RS Blue – M8

    CODE: LY7F

    TYPE: Pearl Effect

    CONTENT ARCHIVE: RS Blue

    SUMMARY:
    In the world of OEM paint colors, we sometimes see name changes without reformulation. One example is Audi’s RS Blue (rsblau; pearl effect UNI; M8; Audi) that is perhaps the most iconic (and likely most popular) color of the Audi RS2 stock color offerings. By the time the color returned on Audi’s B5 S4, it had undergone a name change to Nogaro Blue (nogaroblau; pearl effect UNI; Z5M; Audi), but the color itself remained the same.

    Given the lineage, tracing its roots to the wagon project conceived between Audi and Porsche and built in Stuttgart by Porsche themselves, Nogaro Blue has become an icon in and of itself, highly sought after in Audi exclusive builds or the rare times when Audi offers it on the occasional limited production special edition.

    Few, other than RS2 aficionados, know it as RS Blue though. And whatever the name, the color can likely point towards the pre-war national racing color of French Blue for its inspiration. Rumor has it that Audi designers in the Simi Valley design studio sprayed out a marine blue in a request back to the factory for company car specification, which inspired the development of RS Blue.

    Don’t confuse RS Blue (or Nogaro Blue) with Porsche’s Maritime Blue, a then-current Carrera Cup color at the time the RS2 rolled new out of Porsche’s factory. Models wearing Porsche badges such as the 911 Carrera RS (type 964) and 968 were rolling out of that same manufacturer painted Maritime Blue. The timing, Porsche DNA and and their similar appearance would suggest they might be the same code by another name, but park them next to each other and you’ll see a difference.

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  • Color Focus: Audi Nardo Grey – LY7C

    Color Focus: Audi Nardo Grey – LY7C

    CODE:  LY7C

    COLOR DATA:

    #C0C6C8
    rgb(192,198,200)
    4,1,0,22
    RAL 7035

    TYPE: Non-Metallic

    CONTENT ARCHIVE: Audi Nardo Grey

    SUMMARY:

    It’s funny, there are some colors that become meteoric, becoming so popular that they become iconic and risk becoming ubiquitous. Such is the case of Audi’s Nardo Grey (nardograu; UNI; LY7C; Audi exclusive), a light grey that came on the scene as a standout in Ingolstadt’s RS car lineup.

    Variations on the pastel light grey theme were a thing in the early 2000s, with the Audi TT’s Aviator Grey then Suzuka Grey, Porsche’s Sport Classic Grey then later Chalk. Nardo Grey came into the lexicon roughly in the middle of this grey cloud and seemed to strike a nerve.

    Maybe it’s the nature of the general idea of battleship grey. Ian Fleming’s original James Bond 007, the one in the book and not the movies, famously first drove a Blower Bentley painted battleship grey. And though that car has never graced the silver screen, many other racing cars have including in the pre-war era that would have birthed the Blower Bentley.

    By the time Nardo came on the scene on cars like the Mk2 TT RS or the B8 RS 5, what was old was new again and the shading had a certain perfect balance of light and dark that all made it very distinctive. It was so popular that it became a very regular choice in Audi exclusive tailored specifications, and even got picked up by clients from other brands. Today, it remains common in the Audi RS stock palette though we’d argue so common that it’s now not quite as special in those early Mk2 TT RS days. Nevertheless, it’s still handsome.

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  • Color Focus: Audi Samoa Orange Metallic – X2U

    Color Focus: Audi Samoa Orange Metallic – X2U

    CODE:  X2U

    TYPE: Metallic

    CONTENT ARCHIVE: Audi Samoa Orange

    SUMMARY:

    Believed to be used initially as a launch color for the R8 GT, Samoa Orange Metallic (samoaorange; metallic UNI; X2U; Audi) embraced Audi’s heritage for earth tones in the late 2000s, a time that also birthed Ipanema Brown and Teak Brown. This fiery dark orange would later be used as more of a standard color when the first-generation R8 got its facelift, then later on the TT competition. It even shows up on an R8 Mk2 on screen as Tony Stark’s R8 Coupé in Marvel’s Avengers: Age of Ultron. As a result, Samoa Orange Metallic remains a popular choice in the extended Audi exclusive color palette.

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  • Color Focus: Audi exclusive Nogaro Blue – Z5M

    Color Focus: Audi exclusive Nogaro Blue – Z5M

    CODE: Z5M

    TYPE: Pearl Effect

    CONTENT ARCHIVE: Nogaro Blue

    SUMMARY:
    Might Nogaro Blue (nogaroblau; pearl effect UNI; Z5M; Audi) be the ultimate color for four rings cars wearing an RS badge? Well, we know it is pretty much the original. The color first launched as RS Blue when it first appeared on the Porsche-built and developed RS2 Avant. It would later reappear in the B5 S4, first-generation S3 and remain a favorite for S and RS applications and special editions through to today. The “RS Tribute Edition” take not the RS 6 Avant, itself a tribute to the RS2, remains one of the most sought-after of the C8 RS 6 models sold in the U.S.A.

    Nogaro Blue is a pearl effect blue that seems to hat tip the pre-war national French Blue made iconic in that era when raced on the likes of the Type 33 grand prix cars. Rumor has it that Audi designers in the Simi Valley design studio sprayed out a marine blue in a request back to the factory for company car specification, which inspired the development of RS Blue.

    Don’t confuse that with Porsche’s Maritime Blue, a 90s Carrera Cup color of the same era popular on the 911 Carrera RS (type 964) and 968. The timing, Porsche DNA and and their similar appearance would suggest they might be the same code by another name, but park them next to each other and you’ll see a difference.

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  • Audi exclusive Merlin Purple – LZ3W

    Audi exclusive Merlin Purple – LZ3W

    ORIGINATING MARQUE: Audi

    CODE: 4B, LZ3W, Z3W

    TYPE: Pearl Effect

    CONTENT ARCHIVE: Merlin Purple

    SUMMARY:
    One of the most popular purple paint codes from Audi exclusive must certainly be Merlin Purple Pearl Effect (merlin purple; pearl effect; 4B / LZ3W / Z3W; Audi). Though it’s rarely ever been offered as a standard color, its presence amongst Audi exclusive cars in the market is relatively common thanks to the great level of appreciation it holds over fans of the four ring brand.

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    Below is a gallery of several Audi cars painted in Merlin Purple and posted to Instagram by some of our favorite accounts.

    @fancy_f87m2 / 📸 @_dpod_
    @boden_autohaus / 📸 @_dpod_
    📸 @auditography
    @pacificgerman / 📸 @food4audis
    📸 @captures.kode
    📸 @evog
    @merlin_rs6 / 📸 @will.pohlman3
    @merlins5_b9 / 📸 @ken.rs3
    📸 @rtwenty3
    📸 @romansinternational