The trend started showing up earlier than that, of course, but I think that's why these colors have found a larger, more enduring market than anyone expected.
They may also be showing up more often because the mica flakes were considered environmentally unsound and had to be replaced with something more expensive or less effective, or something like that. Ask anyone who bought a $100K Porsche a few years ago and is now watching their interior adhesives and windshield seals fall apart.
They look very tasteful and other car makers and individual designers in other areas seem to agree. The author even said:
> The effect was sneaky but striking… the VW looked more uniformly smoothed, and as a result more visually dense, than yr typical car — sort of like it had been formed out of wet putty. Paradoxically, the paint job was so “muted” that it drew our attention way more than any of the other regs-painted cars at the trailhead…
There's nothing that indicates it's better at hiding or being 'inoffensive'. A brighter red or other glossy colours are just not very interesting but unless it's neon they still blend in with every other car because they're normal these days. A boring white/black design would be more inoffensive.