Quick Facts About Two-Tone Cars and SUVs
- Two-tone paint jobs add interest to a car or SUV’s exterior by combining paint of a dominating color with an accent contrasting color.
- A paint job with two colors grabs attention and adds the effect of making a vehicle look more distinctive.
- Examples of two-tone cars and SUVs include the 2024 Kia Sportage and the 2025 Volkswagen ID.Buzz.
Although a sought-after feature of upscale European carmakers like Rolls-Royce decades earlier, two-tone cars have been a tradition in America since the 1950s. That’s when General Motors design czar Harley Earl began using splashes of contrasting color on vehicles. Several decades later, two-tone paint schemes began a noticeable comeback with the resurgence of Mini and its contrasting roof color in the early 2000s. Today, carmakers like Chevy, Kia, and Hyundai have jumped on the contrasting-roof-color bandwagon.
Here, we will delve into the two-tone phenomenon, as well as provide a partial list of 2024 vehicles offering it if you’re in the market to buy a car or just want the look. Use the jump links below to skip ahead.
What Are Two-Tone Paint Jobs?
Two-tone paint jobs are factory efforts to add interest to a car or SUV’s exterior by combining paint of a dominating color with an accent contrasting color, often white or black. Two-tone paint jobs aren’t setting the world on fire. However, at least 20 carmakers have recognized the value of separating certain models from the pack by offering two-tone paint jobs for those. In a couple of cases — Land Rover and Mini — most 2024 models get the two-tone look. Although Harley Earl tended to use contrasting colors on hoods, side panels, and (gasp) fins, current two-tone vehicles are more likely to sport a white or black roof over a solid-color body. The all-new Volkswagen ID.Buzz provides a provocative example of the magic a carmaker can achieve with two-tone paint.
What Two-Tone Paint Jobs Are Not
Many models of cars, trucks, and SUVs offer contrasting accents, such as side-view mirror backs, wheel flares, bumpers, spoilers, and so on. Although we argue these affectations add flare and interest to a vehicle’s appearance, we don’t equate them to two-tone paint jobs. Nope. Here, we stick with contrasting paint on body panels like roofs, hoods, doors, and so on.
Why Two-Tone Paint?
As in any industry, automotive product planners are always on the hunt for inexpensive ways to make their products stand out. Although coating a car in more than one color paint costs more than using a single color, it’s still relatively cheap, considering a two-tone paint job’s visual impact. A two-tone paint job not only grabs attention, it adds the effect of making a vehicle look more distinctive.
Cars and SUVs With Two-Tone Paint
We’ve assembled a list of several models as examples of two-tone paint jobs on cars, SUVs, and even a pickup truck. They represent a sample of the carmakers and their models available with the look. By the way, although some carmakers offer multiple models with two-tone paint jobs, Toyota and Nissan lead the pack, each offering several models with optional two-tone paint jobs across several segments and price points.
How To Get the Two-Tone Look on the Cheap
If you are smitten with the two-tone look and would like to affordably add it to your vehicle, we suggest a vinyl wrap. A major benefit of wrapping is that it can be any color under the rainbow. In other words, you aren’t restricted to white, black, or whatever color paint a carmaker offers. Moreover, if you become bored with it, the wrap is easily removed or even replaced with another color. The surface to be wrapped must be free of dings, dents, or other surface imperfections.
Otherwise, the installation and materials are quite affordable. For example, the experts at Precision Wraps & Graphics in Greenville, South Carolina, tell us that wrapping the roof of the current generation of Toyota Camry costs $1,100-$1,200. When professionally done, it is virtually indistinguishable from a Camry with the factory two-tone paint job. Larger vehicles will cost somewhat more to wrap, while a small vehicle will be somewhat less.
