When buying a new car, the colour is a key consideration for many. Engine size, reviews of the model, and a spacious boot might all be taken into account, but if you hate the colour of the vehicle, that sale might not happen.
And a ranking the most and least popular new car colours of 2024 has revealed that vehicles in one colour are on a significant downward trend, despite it once being one of the most common on the roads.
Sales of red cars have been falling since their peak in the 1980s and 1990s. Back in 1997, one in four of all cars on our roads were in the crimson hue.
But new figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders(SMTT), shows red is almost dead when it comes to new car colours.
Red recorded its lowest market share since the millennium, with just seven in every 100 buyers speccing the colour – compared with six in 50 back in 2014. And while it held it’s fifth place in the table, the colour recorded a -4.1 per cent drop, reaching its lowest market share since 2003.
Top of the charts was grey, which was the most popular new car colour for the seventh year in a row. More than a quarter (27.8%) of new car registrations were grey. That means 543,464 grey cars took to our roads last year.
Black came in second place and blue took third place. Blue took its place in the top three hues for the first time since 2010. And the top three colours made up 64.5 per cent of all new cars on the roads. White cars took fourth place in the rankings.
Despite the success of the Barbie movie and the trend for Barbiecore, pink cars were one of the least popular, with figures showing they fell 31 per cent from 2023, with just 145 registrations of the tint.
And turquoise proved the most spurned colour, dropping from 3,627 registrations in 2023 to just 362 last year – marking the colour’s steepest recorded decline and its lowest performance since 2002.
The figures come on the back of research by the AA which said red cars could be gone from our roads in 13 years.
AA Cars director James Hosking, said: “Drivers of a certain age will fondly remember a time when nearly every other car on the road seemed to be red, but those days are long past. The rising popularity of monochrome and grey cars has the potential to make our roads far less colourful.”
Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive, added: “While manufacturers strive to ensure every driver can have their pick of a vast choice of paint colours and personalisation options to suit their individual tastes, it seems UK car buyers’ preferences remain steadfastly monochrome.”
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