Well, that was really a rhetorical question – obviously not all work trucks here in Japan are white, but a good majority are as highlighted by this staging area near a Hino Assembly plant close to our home.
Most light duty commercial trucks, like these Hino Dutros, typically are white. They’ll likely have a decal or stencil on the side with the company’s name and info.
The Dutro is the quintessential JDM light-duty truck. It’s classed as “1.5/2-metric ton” but comes in a variety of payloads, wheelbases, and styles. It’s also a favorite refuse truck in short wheelbase form – easier to navigate those small Japanese streets. In 2022, a BEV model was introduced.
But why is white so popular? I asked my Japanese friends and they gave several answers;
- White is the most popular vehicle color in Japan – in 2023-24 49% of new cars sold were white. Manufacturers have loads of it on hand and with that volume can offer it cheaper than other colors.
- White being so popular makes it easier when time comes to re-sell as a used vehicle.
- The old Confucius belief that white conveys “purity” and therefore trustworthiness is still embedded in the culture.
It’s likely a combination of all three.
However Hino will paint your Dutro in other colors, as can be seen in these red models parked in the back.
Fun Fact 1: The name Dutro was derived from a quasi-combination of DUty and TRuck.
Fun Fact 2: Japanese commercial truck categories are;
1. Light-Duty (Kogata): Payload – typically 2 to 3 tons.
2. Medium-Duty (Chugata): Payload – typically 4 to 8 tons.
3. Heavy-Duty (Ogata): Payload – typically 10 to 15+ tons (GVW over 20 tons).
CDL-like licenses are required for each.
Same color in Europe (Renault / SOVAB LCV plant, Google maps):
And Stellantis Val di Sangro:
Right, light commercial vehicles (allowed to drive with a car driving license) are very often white. Especially cargo vans.
Any company that runs multiple trucks presents a better image when they are all the same color. White is the default choice because it’s a neutral color that is easy to letter and it hides dirt well.
Nothing new, most “work” or “fleet” trucks in the US are white. They bring a better resale price because you don’t have to deal with the previous owner’s colors or color combos that tie you to the former owner. Easier patch or repaint, stick your graphics on and go.
I think that has clearly been the trend in more recent decades, but was once not so much the case. For instance, the US Forest Service switched to white a decade or so ago from its distinctive unique light green because of resale value. Fleet management has become more sophisticated and is all about TOC (total operating cost), where depreciation is a very significant factor. It undoubtedly explains why Eugene city fleet is now full of white RAV4s; undoubtedly they could buy cheaper sedans but the resale value of the RAV4s undoubtedly make them cheaper in the long run.
I was very aware of this when I visited Japan in 1981: literally every commercial vehicle, from the smallest little farmer’s kei pickup to large trucks was white. And of course so were many private cars too.
FWIW, I can relate: our three main vehicles are all white. 🙂
Three big government fleets here, California State Parks and the Dept of Transportation (aka CalTrans) , plus the US Forest Service, have gone to white trucks with stick-on graphics in their old green, brown, or high-viz orange colors. As an aside, I have seen CalTrans using Priuses, Chevy Volts, eV Silverado’s Teslas, and even a VW ID4, always white with the bright orange logos. Our local public utility, Pacific Gas and Electric trucks used to be blue, and some of the big Peterbilts and IH still are, but the pickups are often white now, with blue accent graphics and logos.
I suspect it’s primarily resale value. Our city has a pretty eclectic fleet: full size Ford and Chevy trucks, “old” and “new” Ford Rangers, Ford Escapes, Priuses and Nissan Leafs, Tacoma’s and Frontiers, plus a variety of other cars and trucks, all white.
Caltrans also has some Rivian pickups!
Seems to be true of the older Toyota compact pickups around here. They’re still common among landscapers and maintenance men, and they’re all white. Older American pickups are usually green or red, rarely white.
For a counterpoint, this link alleges that uncommon colors can actually lead to better resale value. While white may be the most popular, not everyone wants white. Uncommon colors have their devotees. Evidently the scarcity of uncommon colors vs the predominance of white (and a few others like various shades of gray & silver) lead to higher resale values on the less common colors. Maybe less of a factor for commercial vehicles compared with passenger cars though.
https://www.autotrader.com/car-shopping/worst-car-colors-resale-value#link1
Personally, I consider the whole resale value issue on commercial vehicles more of an unproven theory than a proven fact. In my experience with fleets, most commercial vehicles a run until they are no longer reliable or economic to keep operating. At that point in their life cycle, I’m not yet convinced color has much impact on resale value.
I suspect the predominance of white is more closely related to the development of vehicle wrapping and modern decals that make applying special fleet livery a less expensive option than special paint colors. White is probably provides the best canvas for such livery.
I read that link, and while it did say that in some rather unusual circumstances a certain bright color might help resale on certain vehicles, like Jeep, it clearly said that the most popular colors are generally going to be the best bet in terms of resale. And not surprisingly, white was very much at the top of that list.
As to truck, municipal, government and commercial fleets, there is no doubt that white has become increasingly popular precisely because of resale value as well as a couple of other advantages. They stay cooler in the summer, they make a better backdrop for signage, white tends to be easier to keep clean looking. It’s easier to match with white utility bodies and such.
The US Forest Service specifically went from its pea green to white a decade or so ago because of higher resale values. Fleet vehicles are not typically run until they die or are in need of serious repair. They follow their fleet practices and former Forest Service vehicles are popular here in Oregon with private buyers. They invariably have lots of life in them yet.
I think there are two sides to that coin when discussing used passenger vehicles. I believe there are a small proportion of buyers who are willing to go out of their way (and pay extra for) vehicles in specific colors.The majority of buyers want a good car at a good price, regardless of color.
I’m in the first camp. With my most recent purchase, I specifically sought out a vehicle that wasn’t black/white/silver/gray. I had to wait a while, and possibly pay a premium, to find the red or blue model.
Yes, it can be disappointing to scroll through screen after screen of white/silver/black vehicles in search of something imaginative. There is nothing to attract the eye of the buyer to your car when there may be hundreds online that appear the same.
When I bought my Mazda 3 I must have spent about twenty minutes scrolling past the greyscale cars. I didn’t have a particular colour in mind, and wound up with a vibrant blue. As a bonus, it was only 15km away.
Growing up in China, solid blue was the common color scheme for Japanese light duty trucks throughout the Asian region during in 1970-80s. Actually I want to know if anyone thinks this type of truck is better as a working vehicle than the US full size pickup truck. I believe they are the same physical dimension, Japanese one has a larger payload, and US truck is more powerful and more personal features
With the cab portion of many commercial vehicles being the only paint from the truck manufacturer, other than frame components painted black, the new cab wraps can not only change the cab color, but also add lettering and logos quite effectively. Many truck body upfits (vans, dump bodies, etc.) come in standard generic paint and are often left as received. The nice thing about the truck wraps, in addition to their appearance, is that they protect the OEM paint and are completely and easily (I’m told) removable, leaving a more salable vehicle. Presumably a truck which had been wrapped when new will be ready, when unwrapped by the original owner for resale, for a new wrap by the second owner, or for use as-is with the protected OEM paint job looking sharp. So a generic white cab may live out its days appearing as almost any color! The days of hand-lettered cabs and painted or stenciled on logs are long gone, it seems.
Keep them coming Jim, never mind (lack of) color or weight segment.
There’s only one mandatory (required by law) truck color here. The basic, main color of recovery vehicles and wreckers, owned by private companies, must be bright yellow.
Speaking of white-cabbed Dutros, just last year, Aoshima came out with this.
Also available as a dropside flatbed, but I’m sure the garbage truck would be more fun.
All the explanations make sense, but the fact that cars and trucks are becoming as commodified as generic sheets of white paper in the name of cutthroat economics is nevertheless depressing.
Word from the street with no source. When the International “S” series came out in 1977 they were all white, at least here. I drove green ones and there were masking tape lines on it. Other companies and color schemes too, we used to laugh about it. This was not a style trend, it was cheap.
The story was that International was so broke that they only had one paint dipping tank (or whatever). Any color as long as it was white. The “S” series itself was sort of a (successful) effort to fight the Ford “L” (Louisville) series. Simple with flat surfaces, even the windshields were flat. They were so plain and cheap-looking, yet so much better than the Fords (personal opinion).
I’m pretty sure that they had factory colors later in production.
Another story I’d heard of International in those years was that all 1980 Scouts built for dealer stock had the Nissan diesel engine, because they’d already decided to discontinue the model and get out of light trucks at the end of the year but had contracted to buy a set number of engines from Nissan. So unless a customer special-ordered another engine, diesel it was.
A large corporate operator of funeral homes and cemeteries in the US, based in Houston TX apparently orders a mix of black, silver and white livery on hearses and limousines, premise being that they will get the best resale when they trade them in by not dominating the used market with one color of vehicles.