Car colour popularity

The most popular car colours today are shades of grey: white, black, grey and silver, amounting to over 70% of the total world car production. Red, blue and brown/beige cars range between 6% and 9% each, while all other colours amount to less than 5%. Colour choice is subject to fluctuation and fashion, and historical trends shifted from dark neutral colours of early cars, through more vivid colors of 1950s and 1960s, back towards today's neutral colours.

Most popular colours

American paint manufacturers PPG Industries and DuPont both conduct annual surveys about car colour popularity worldwide. According to the 2012 surveys, white was the most popular car colour worldwide, followed by silver, grey and black; the highest discrepancies come between grey and silver, apparently because of ambiguity of the terms. Results of the surveys by region are summarized in the table:

Proposed reasons

The car colours silver, white, grey, black, gold, beige, and several shades of brown, while each having experienced the intermittent prominence typical of non-neutrals, are likewise subject to fashion's more general fluctuations. However, perennial popularity for neutrals is assured based simply on their inherent plainness.