60% Of Cars Sold In 2019 Were Grey, Black Or White

The SMMT's annual report on the colour choices of UK car buyers - once again - makes for disappointing reading

Updated: 10 Oct 2024

60% Of Cars Sold In 2019 Were Grey, Black Or White

We’re disappointed to announce that UK car buyers weren’t all that adventurous in 2019. A massive 60.7 per cent of all new car sales were for vehicles finished in either grey, black or white, with grey enjoying a second consecutive year in the top spot following a 1.6 per cent market share increase to 22.6 per cent.

We shouldn’t be surprised - a primary colour hasn’t been in the top three since 2010, when blue sat in third place. Blue is still the ‘best of the rest’, at least, sitting in fourth with a 16.2 per cent market share, with white ahead in third on 17.6 per cent and black in second holding a 20.2 per cent market share.

For the most part, the SMMT’s (Society of Motor Traders and Manufacturers) annual colour choice report looks largely the same as it did last year. The only difference is yellow sneaking back into tenth place, having been usurped by beige in 2018. Yellow still isn’t a particularly popular hue, however, with a market share of only 0.3 per cent last year, amounting to 6566 registrations.

New car registrations dipped by 2.4 per cent last year, which means no colours other than grey or turquoise outsold their 2018 numbers. 2019 also saw silver drop to its lowest sales figure in 20 years - 201,008.

Finally, the SMMT reports that the UK’s least favourite colours of 2019 were maroon, cream and pink. Together, they made up less than one per cent of all sales.

Growing up on a diet of World Rally Championship highlights and lengthy Gran Turismo 2 sessions, a life in cars was as good as inevitable for Matt.

Comments

Silver is legit the most boring color you can get for a car.

Depends on the car. Honda has a classic silver that just works for their cars, same with Mercedes.

It’s also the best looking

My first car was a silver BMW 525i and it suited this car so well

Probably because grey, white and black are the standard colour option on most PCP and Lease deals

and on the 2017 skoda octavia steel grey is the only free color

i will take a wild guess that those are 3 colours you don’t have to pay extra for when buying a new car. Also they are the easiest colours to sell on 2nd hand. Im not sure but i believe colour still effects insurance prices in the UK so it could be that to.

I understand that grey (as boring as it may be) looks good on almost all cars. A trend I noticed while working at Mazda is that while their concept colour (soul red) is often praised an complimented, when people buy a Mazda, it’ll mostly be in graphite grey or titanium flash. I think the problem is that no colours fit all cars. Ferrari’s look most appealing in red, most Lambos and McLarens in orange and yellow, etc. Cars are designed to suit a certain colour, which is why other colours won’t suit it as much. Where-as grey, black and white will suit pretty much anything.