These Car Paint Stats Prove Brits Aren't As Boring As People Think

While looking through a report on UK new car purchases in March from the The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), one piece of information stood out: colours. As you can see from this chart comparing March 2004 to March 2014, the 'other colours' category has jumped from 5.1 per cent to 18.5 per cent, which can only mean buyers are getting more adventurous and opting for more interesting shades like our Ford Focus ST longtermer's 'Tangerine Scream' orange (above).

What's also interesting, is that the popularity of white new cars surged to 22.4 per cent, making it the most common choice last month.

That's a huge change from 10 years ago, when the percentage of white cars sold in March was so small that it fell into the five per cent of 'other colours' in the chart. On the other hand, silver, which was the most popular colour in 2004, has dropped dramatically from 35.7 per cent to 13.2 per cent.