By Classic Yorkshire correspondent Tony Lofthouse
Are we getting a bit dull when it comes to choosing the colour of our cars?
According to the latest research from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) grey continues to be the most popular colour for new cars.
The colour accounted for a quarter of all cars registered last year.
In fact, the Society’s findings show a monochrome top three with black in second place (20% of sales) and white in third (17%).
Combined, the three shades make up 62.5% of all new cars bought in 2022.
SMMT added that grey was seen as ‘a sleek and deeper tone than other shades’ and is often seen as a ‘safer choice’.
Blue has grown in appeal (16%) and red scored 8.5%.
Silver took sixth place with 6.1 % of sales after holding ‘top spot’ for over 12 years in the early 2000s. Coming in tenth was bronze.
Looking into the colour choices a little deeper, research from Uswitch comes up with some interesting conclusions.
They say grey and silver car owners are said to have a ‘sensible nature’, whilst white car drivers tend to be ‘clinical and highly organised’. Owners of black cars ‘tend to ooze sophistication and have great style’.
When it comes to classic cars, according to the Canadian insurance group, Wayfarer, red is the most common colour and whilst yellow is rare for new cars it is popular for older vehicles.
Certain shades are synonymous with particular car brands such as British Racing Green (MG, Morgan and Jaguar), Corvette Yellow, Rosro Corsa (Ferrari) and Mica Blue (Subaru Impreza).
Go back to the 70s and brown was all the rage. Who remembers the copper brown Ford Consul GT 3.0 litre in The Sweeney which took Detective Inspector Regan (John Thaw) on one car chase after another?
Looking back through old classic car brochures it seemed British Leyland had a paint shop full of brown shades. Check out the Austin Princess or the Mini!
Let’s saviour these times, It could be a long wait before we see brown return to favour!
For more information on the latest trend in car colours visit the SMMT website:
Colours put in the shade as grey matters most to UK car buyers
Visit any weekend car and coffee event where there are TVRs in attendance for a fabulous explosion of colour and bling !!
Grey! Considered the ‘safer option’! Certainly not on a foggy day, even silver is bad enough. And in my opinion, they look to me as if the manufacturer forgot to apply the top coat. I’m looking forward to the end of this disgusting colour. Reminds me of John Major (Spitting Image Fame). You only have to look around the bedding department at John Lewis to see it’s the in ‘colour’.
Looks dreadful on beds, let alone cars. Surely, once this trend finishes these grey cars will be worth considerably less than their colourful counterparts, just like the nasty brown ones!?
PS. I assisted Keith Waterhouse with your article about the Fiat Barchetta.
Regards, Michael.
Hi Michael – great to have your views and hope you’re enjoying following the website.
I agree re latest trend for grey. There is a particular light grey shade on new cars right now that looks like undercoat – you just want to see them finished in the final colour!
Hi Tony,
HAD to comment about the abundance of these dreary ‘colours’. Malheureusment, the folk who buy them new are,… like their cars,…..” as dull as ditchwater”. Avoid them like the plague. It may be safe to buy such shades to blend in with the masses, but …..?
Lovely to hear from you again,
PS. The latest post has a photo of an Austin Princess. My dad bought a brown Austin Princess. cheap?. It was THE WORST car I’ve ever had the displeasure to maintain. However, my father was a teacher, NOBODY can ever teach a teacher ANYTHING about ANYTHING. I know that, for a fact, unfortunately pour moi.
Regards, Michael.l
Having had a few black cars recently, 69 Mach1, ‘72 BGTV8, ‘08 Z4 Coupe to name a few, (all of which I bought because of what they were and they unfortunately happened to be black) I’ve got to say that black cars are the absolute worst to keep clean, even after washing and leathering off they only need a bit of overnight condensation to look grubby again.
I’ve long thought that people’s (or manufacturers?) colour choices reflect the state of the world and the public’s general feeling – if times are good then lots of colour, if times are hard with lots of general dissatisfaction then a plethora of boring and depressing greys and blacks. Sports and performance cars are there to make you smile and black and grey doesn’t do it. Don’t be embarrassed about having a nice car and feel like you have to disguise it in drab paint, be proud and loud and show some colour!
Absolutely agree. I had a black car once and it showed every mark. Surprisingly white was always relatively clean. But now my cars are red and yellow and really nice pale blue. Never really liked the grey that was in until recently.