For ninth year, silver most popular car colour

There are a lot of beautiful colours available with today’s cars, from rich burnt orange hues to brilliant deep cobalt blue metallics, but just the same the number one colour in the automotive sector is really no colour at all, but rather the shade of Silver.

It all started back in 1976 when metallic Silver became the “colour” of choice from European manufacturers, with everything from Volkswagen’s Scirocco to Porsche’s 924 showing up at auto shows glistening under the bright lights. Not only was it a fashionable design statement, but Silver proved to be the hardiest of colours too, light-hued enough not to show metal imperfections as badly after years of wear, and capable of hiding scratches better than darker colours. This hardiness has helped in the resale value of silver cars, for the very fact that a better looking used car will fetch more money.

Whatever the reasoning behind silver’s popularity, the fact remains that it has been number one for nine years running according to PPG. How popular is it? A recent surge of five-percent made silver (and various tones nearing light gray) total to about 25 percent of the new vehicle market during model year 2009.

White, also a good colour for aging cars, is popular as well at 18 percent market share, while black reaches 16 percent and red 12 percent. Combine the beautiful burnt orange and cobalt blue colours, plus yellows, greens, browns, and the list goes on of other hues offered by manufacturers, and they total less than one third of the top four.

“What helps drive silver’s popularity are all of the innovative effects that really make silver shine… much more than just a simple gray,” said Jane E. Harrington, PPG manager of color styling and automotive coatings. “Silver tones work well with today’s tinted metallic textural looks. The diversity of silver, from subtle hue shifts to dimensional metallic flake appearances, works with a variety of vehicle styles.”

Photograph by: Kai Pfaffenbach