Is A Paint Code Always The Same Colour?

[PhilipK]

My new (to me) 2008 (2009MY) IS 250 SE-L is painted "Caspian Sky". However, the colour (to my eyes) looks very different to the Caspian Sky sample in the 2008/9 Lexus IS brochure - my car is much whiter, whereas the brochure looks much bluer. Holding the brochure next to the car shows they are clearly different colours.

I was almost convinced that the car had been listed incorrectly (the Lexus UK web site says that, based on my VIN, it is Caspian Sky and the V5 lists it as "Blue"), until I found the VIN label on the passenger door jamb, and it indeed shows the exterior colour as "074", which is the same colour code that is quoted in the brochure.

Some internet research has suggested that this colour was also offered on other Lexus models, and appears to have been called "Glacier Frost Mica" in the USA (and "Bluish Pearl Crystal" by the people selling touch-up paint on eBay.)

My question is - will paint code 074 always be the same colour (regardless of what name it has in the sales brochures in different countries), or will the actual colour of 074 vary depending on the model/year/country?

[ColinBarber]

The paint code is always the same colour, the name can vary between countries and between Toyota and Lexus.