The colour of a car is important, especially if you want it to stand out. Recent statistics have shown that black has become Britain’s favourite car colour. White had been the most popular choice, but black overtook it in 2017. Last year, half a million buyers chose black and white fell to third place after spending four years at the top. It’s been suggested the change has come about due to many drives being too busy to wash their cars.
According to Karim Mussilhy, a sales manager from car retailer, the Sytner Group, “there was a strong trend for white cars in the UK. You could really see it with sales on the ground – but this has faded away. White cars are perceived as being harder to keep clean and people’s lives are busier than ever. That’s definitely a factor.”
In 2017, a total of 482,099 white cars were registered with the UK’s Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency. This was a 15% decrease from 2015, as 564,393 were registered. According to DVLA statistics, monochrome colours have remained the most popular for 18 years, with around 60% of 2.54 million cars registered in 2017 being black, grey or white.
Blue is the only primary colour to feature in the top five. Red dropped to sixth in favour of silver, while green came in seventh place. Of all the colours to show the fastest growth, gold is the most popular. Demand increased by 19.1%, though it remains a niche choice.
The editorial director of What Car? Magazine, Jim Holder said “plainer, safer colours deliver better resale values because the cars will appeal to a broader group of buyers. This year’s figures show few signs of that trend changing despite buyers being offered more choices of car colours than ever. Still, gold’s position as the fastest-rising choice shows there are a few extroverts out there.”
Despite black being the most popular UK colour, white remains the number one choice in the North of England. The same can be said regionally, as buyers in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales picked white as the favourite. The takeaway is that monochrome colours are what people want.
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