Purple! Orange! Yellow! BMW is doing its best to bring color back

Audi and Volkswagen would later follow in creating a striking, uniform color scheme for its auto show cars. You actually needed sunglasses at Volkswagen at one point ... I'm not kidding. They actually handed out sunglasses.

Yet, this trend of white cars at auto shows arguably led to a trend of white cars on the road. This, in addition to the public's love affair with bland tones of silver and grey, has led to a terribly bland roadscape. We'll say it right now: we want more colorful cars.

Well, BMW would seem to feel the same way, because judging by its L.A. Auto Show stand, it's doing its damndest to make colors trendy again. There was yellow, orange, bright red, two varieties of electric blue and purple. Purple! It was reminiscent of the 1990s when BMW, and specifically M Division, fully embraced bright, vibrant colors like Estoril Blue, Imola Red, Dakar Yellow, Evergreen (pretty much teal), Kyalami Orange and Technoviolet.

BMW wasn't alone, either. Volkswagen brought out as many colors as it could, with the Alltrack and Tiguan showing off classy shades of green (though the GTI color palette remains far too muted).

And speaking of green: the Dodge Challenger can now be had in a shade called F8 Green. It looks sensational, a throwback to similarly colored cars of the late 1960s (Bullitt anyone?). Then again, Dodge is probably the brand that has embraced color the most over the years.

Elsewhere in the FCA empire, the new Wrangler showcased a unique mustard-and-ketchup pairing of a yellow exterior with red interior trim. Not sure about this combo, but it shows that manufacturers are also trying to brighten up interiors.

Of course, there was still plenty of grayscale. Both Hyundai and Land Rover were nothing but silvers and grays. Maybe they'll get the memo next year. More color!