When Cupra’s designers gave life to Formentor’s first sketches, the Color&Trim team started working on the colours that would dress the electrified crossover. To obtain the palette, the first step taken by the Color&Trim design team, led by Francesca Sangalli, was to identify the essence and DNA of the brand. “Colours are fundamental to identify the character of a brand. Each colour has its own personality, expresses a different attitude, and the colours we created for the first Cupra model reflect an authentic personality”, shares Francesca Sangalli, Head of Color&Trim Concept&Strategy.
Ideas for designing a new colour that identifies with precise values can come from many sources of inspiration. On this occasion, nature, with its textures, environments and shapes, has been the muse to deploy creativity converted into colour. “Much of the inspiration comes from nature and the elements that make it up. We have recreated the colour of minerals, stone, earth, even the environment around us”, continues Francesca Sangalli.
Adding one milligram more or less of white to the mix or giving the colour more or less brilliance makes it completely different. “In order to obtain the opaque Magnetic Grey we created so many shades of the same tone that sometimes it was even difficult to distinguish them. But we knew exactly what we wanted – that the surface of the car looked like a rock. In the end, we achieved this effect by introducing large metal particles that give it this appearance of hardness typical of rocks. We turned nature into a colour,” concludes Francesca.
Three colours, three different inspirations. Matt Petrol Blue: this is the colour that identifies Cupra. It represents the brand’s sporty and sophisticated DNA. With its matte finish, we add technical character and intensity to the colour. Matt Magnetic Grey: its surface had to be like stone. This shade has metal particles inside that give it the hardness typical of minerals. Pure nature. Graphene Grey: in simple terms, it is a sheet, like a single layer of carbon atoms. We wanted to give it a flat and bold character at the same time. Each colour has been designed by mixing colours and other materials such as aluminium and mica to achieve the desired effect.
