White still remains most favoured car color

For the fourth straight year, White emerged as the most popular color for the new car buyers. That's the takeaway from a latest study conducted by paint giant PPG Industries, which publishes an annual report on which colours are most popular on new cars. 

The report states that 28 percent of new cars were painted 'white' in 2014 worldwide, as against 25 percent last year. The second most popular color was 'black,' with 18 percent share, while 'silver' and 'gray' shared the third spot in the popularity stakes, with each getting about 13 percent of bite from the whole pie.

Termed as 'natural' colors by the company, including gold, beige, yellow, orange, and brown, made up 10 percent of global new car sales this year, while 9 percent of new cars this year were painted red.

“Car manufacturers across the world are continually seeking new ways to create a unique appearance for models and vehicle brands. As colour selection takes place two or three years in advance of a model year, it is important for auto makers to combine color popularity with global consumer trends,” said Jane E. Harrington, PPG manager, colour styling, automotive OEM (original equipment manufacturer) coatings.

“Today, automotive manufacturers can choose from a broad array of colours as well as a wide assortment of variations of conservative hues such as white, silver, black and gray, and distinct effects such as micas, glass flakes, fine bright aluminum and hue-shifting pigments,” he added.