Toronto, Ontario — The top three most popular automotive colours are white, grey and black, according to Axalta’s 71st annual Global Automotive Color Popularity report.
The coatings company revealed in its annual report that 31 percent of vehicles on today’s roads are white; 22 percent are grey and 18 percent are black, marking the first-ever year that gray has overtaken black as the second-most-popular automotive hue.
To break it down further, 15 percent of “white” cars sport a solid white hue, while 16 percent tout a pearlescent tone.
Europe is unique as the only major region to report grey as the most popular car colour at 26 percent. The hue is also popular in South America, ranking as the second-highest colour with a six percent increase over 2022.
Black remains dominant in Europe as the second-most popular colour at 23 percent. The shade is most popular on luxury cars, said Axalta.
White vehicles continue to dominate roads worldwide—as they have since claiming the reign in 2011—but popularity dropped three percentage points over 2022. China marked the most significant sway away from white—down eight percent—proving the nation’s favour toward more chromatic hues.
Blue cars remain popular in North America, though there was a three percent drop in popularity from 2022. Silver and blue are the fourth and fifth most popular hues, at 10 percent and eight percent, respectively.
When vehicle types are considered, the most popular truck/SUV colour in North America is white (27 percent); the number one compact/sport vehicle colour is grey (27 percent) and the most popular luxury car colour is black (29 percent) followed closely by white (27 percent).
Click here to view Axalta’s 2023 Global Automotive Color Popularity report.
