These are the number of 2022 Prius Prime and 2022 Prius cars available for each color within 500 miles of my Zip code at the moment. I wonder why they make so many cars in magnetic-gray metallic . I will not miss that color in Gen 5. Windchill pearl is plenty, too. Midnight-black metallic is scarce. We will see how it will be in Gen 5. 2022 Prius Prime magnetic-gray metallic—47 windchill pearl—36 classic-silver metallic—12 blue magnetism—7 midnight-black metallic—7 supersonic red—5 2022 Prius magnetic-gray metallic—35 windchill pearl—17 classic-silver metallic—13 midnight-black metallic—12 sea-glass pearl—8 supersonic red—8 electric-storm blue—7 Toyota inventory | New-Toyota inventory search
I think Toyota's color selection is pretty wide but feel all paint colors should be same price. Be it metallic paint or non-metallic.
candy and pearl are an extra step in the process and also cost more to be matched if they ever need to be re-sprayed. It sure would be nice if they all were equal, but how boring would our lives be if EVerything was really equal.
Windchill white and supersonic red are three-coat colors (basecoat + pearl mid-coat + clearcoat), whereas the others are two-coat colors (basecoat + clearcoat). That is why the former have a price premium.
If a car maker did that, they'd price the car for the more expensive paint. In addition to more steps and paint used, the dyes can add to the cost. Some reds have literal gold in the dye compound. That was one of the reasons a red on the Dodge Viper was over $15k. The process for it also took a week.
Be careful what you wish for. They might just end up making it ALL optional paint lol. (See Nissan or older Mazdas. Heck, on my EV6, black was free but everything else was optional). Toyota so far has been resisting it. Their metallic paints have been "free" (or included in the price of the car). It's usually the 3-coat paint that have an associated fee (and up til ~5-6 years ago, it's just been pearl white. Now they've made a nice 3-coat red paint option).
