Flat paints are a hot trend in in the industry right now, and they’re becoming available directly from the factory. BMW is one manufacturer that has a love-affair with these type of paints, with their “Frozen” variation. There is a bit of a difference between true matte and BMW’s Frozen paints. BMW has a satin clear coat over the paint, so there is a bit of shine instead of being completely flat.
Either way they’re cool looking – and also a nightmare to keep clean. These colors have become available through BMW’s Individual personalization program. A few years back Scion released a chalky grey color without any metallic flakes in it. Hyundai has taken it one step further with the Hyundai Veloster Turbo, the first lower end car to feature matte paint. BMW, on the other hand, is keeping these new BMW Performance Editions exclusive, and United Kingdom-only, for now at least.
The editions are for the M3 and M5, and include two new colors: Frozen Red and Frozen White, in addition to Frozen Blue. Our favorite of the three is White. What were they thinking with Red? It’s a popsicle-like Red that doesn’t look very appealing. On another note, the most stunning color we’ve seen of the Frozen paints is Grey. The Performance Edition cars include matte black alloy rims, piano black interior trim, Alcantara steering wheels and color-coordinated seat stitching.
On the M3, it doesn’t end there. The full list is as follows: Dark Chrome exhaust, side gills and kidney surround, jet black bonnet intakes, carbon-fibre front splitters, high-gloss Shadowline exterior trim, folding exterior mirrors and sun protection glass. Adaptive headlights, DAB digital radio, a Harman/Kardon 13-loudspeaker system, BMW Professional Media Package, mobile application preparation, telephone USB audio interface and Internet connectivity. The M5 comes with a similar list of equipment. The Performance Edition models are limited to just thirty examples apiece, starting at £74,080 (about $113,865 USD at current exchange rates) for the M3 and £95,140 ($146,239) for the M5.
