Top 10 Most Popular Car Colors

Top 10 Most Popular Car Colors
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The pearl white paint of this 2013 Tesla Model S costs an extra $1,500 because it requires multiple layers to create its deep finish. Click the photo to see a slideshow with the full top 10 list of most popular colors for new cars. (Credit: Tesla Motors)

In a world full of color, most people prefer black and white—at least when it comes to cars.
For a second consecutive year, white is the most popular color for new cars, according to the 2012 DuPont Automotive Color Popularity Report. Black, silver, gray and red round out the top five.
“White especially has been a constant top runner since really 1998,” says Nancy Lockhart, DuPont color marketing manager. “Silver had its reign from 2001 to 2006 as being the leading color and now black has come up as being the leading color in certain segments, especially luxury.”

Both black and white are seen as denoting status, luxury and quality, she says.
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Trends in the electronics industry had a big impact on car colors over the past decade. For example, silver became the color of choice for cell phones, computers and home entertainment systems in the early to mid-2000s. Consequently, it also became a prominent car color. “It was a color that said, ‘Look, I have a modern piece of technology,’” Lockhart says.
Then, in the mid-2000s and beyond, Apple made a splash with white iBooks, iMacs, iPhones and iPods and helped establish white as a hip color of status. Thus, Apple inadvertently helped propel white to prominence in the auto industry.
But it’s not just electronics that have an impact on car colors. The use of browns and beiges in home decor is influencing automakers too, Lockhart says. These earthy tones rank as seventh on the list of most popular car colors this year. They account for 5 percent of the automotive market, both globally and in North America.
Green is also having a resurgence lately, but still only accounts for 1 percent of the world automotive market and 2 percent in the United States. It ranks ninth in popularity.
“Those colors that may be lower popularity, they get the most recognition,” Lockhart says. “More people notice them because all of these neutral colors kind of pass them by—white, black, silver, gray. They kind of go unnoticed now. And some of these lower popularity colors are getting more news.”
Still, white, silver, gray and black vehicles vastly outnumber cars of other colors, not just in the United States, but the world over. Collectively, they account for 76 percent of the automotive market. But that could change.
“It’s a trend I think people are getting a little tired of, because we’ve had so many of these neutral colors on the road,” Lockhart says.
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I can't stand how all the cars today are becoming so monochromatic.

I miss the days where you could get your cars in a ton of colors and options.