White remains world’s favourite car colour, but what comes next?
Axalta’s annual colour popularity report reveals growing global interest in blue cars.Ever wondered what the most popular colour choices are for cars around the world?
We all have our theories, but American coatings supplier Axalta has provided the hard data for us to chew over with the release of its 69th annual Global Automotive Colour Popularity Report.
The report details exactly which colours consumers are opting for in the showroom and what trends look to be emerging in certain markets.
It should come as no real surprise that white (as an overarching entity) was the most popular colour choice globally in 2021, with 35 per cent of new-car buyers opting for the admittedly broad colour spectrum.
That 35 per cent figure is a combination of solid (21%) and pearl (14%) white finishes, with the former still outnumbering every other colour.
Black and grey were tied for second with a 19 per cent share each, while silver (9%) was next.
According to the report, eight per cent of all new cars sold this year were blue, five per cent were red and three per cent were either brown or beige, with the remaining two per cent being either yellow/gold (1%) or green (1%).
While white has continued to rule the roost as the most popular colour since 2011, Axalta says its popularity slipped three points this year while interest in grey and blue went up four and one per cent respectively.
The rising interest in grey is no fluke – it was the most popular colour in Europe by four points over white and five points over black, with the latter option still proving the world’s most preferred colour for luxury vehicles.
Every other major market’s top-selling colour was white while there was some shuffling here and there between grey and black for the second and third rankings.
South America was the outlier here with 23 per cent of all new cars sold this year being silver – behind white (35%) and ahead of grey (19%).
As for the more vibrant colours, North America had the biggest share of red vehicles (8%) while South Korea and Europe recorded the biggest share of blue cars (11%) – enough to make blue the fourth-favourite colour choice across Europe, roughly in line with global trends.
Blue also proved popular in North America (10%), Africa (10%), Japan (9%) and Mexico (10%).
Russia and India expressed a particular liking for brown/beige vehicles, which accounted for 11 per cent of all sales there.
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