UK Vehicle Colours of Choice

In 2021, UK drivers mainly chose to purchase monochrome cars, with grey being the most popular colour for the fourth year in a row.

Grey is a favourite because of its sleek, deep tone and ability to suit black wheel trims, it’s also considered to be a compromise between either black or white, it also has a wider resale appeal than brighter colours.

Grey cars accounted for 24.8% of motor trade sales with 408,155 units sold, a 2.8% increase year on year. Black vehicles were the second most popular colour with 20.5% driving off motor trade dealer forecourts; and white came in third with just over 17% of the market share according to new data released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

In total, during 2021, 62.4% of new cars sold in Britain were either grey, black, or white, blue was the fourth most popular colour of choice which was just 2,638 units behind white.

Meanwhile, just 98,483 units sold were silver cars, the lowest number in two decades. Red only recorded 136,793 units which some found as a surprising decline, it was reds lowest market share since 2008, just 8.5%.

Like motorists choose different private and motor trade insurance brokers for buying an insurance policy, they also choose different vehicle colours, and the least popular colours were maroon, pink, and cream which made up less than 1% of new car registrations.

More niche colours like orange, yellow, bronze, turquoise and mauve saw a growth, but still only made up 3.4% of motor trade sales. There was a surge in green vehicle sales which reached its highest level in 16 years, a 74.2% increase from 2021.

White was popular for both mini and sports cars purchases, and no real surprise, black was the choice for luxury saloons and executive cars.

The fastest-growing niche colours were gold, yellow and turquoise, but they only made up 0.9% of the market. A non-monochrome colour has not been in the top three since blue in 2010.

The most popular colour also varied by country and region, but grey still topped the most popular colour in every UK country. Pink cars were mostly registered in Bedfordshire, while green and turquoise vehicles in Greater London and Buckinghamshire.

Orange was popular in the West Midlands and Scotland registered no maroon vehicle sales whatsoever, the lowest number there since 1997.

SMMT Chief Executive, Mike Hawes, said, “2021 was anything but normal, but British drivers stuck to their familiar favourites of grey, black, and white cars. But while last year’s new cars might share the same shades as previous years, under the bonnet there has been a real shift, with one in six buyers choosing to go green. With car registrations still low compared to pre- pandemic, helping even more drivers move to greener cars – whatever the actual colour – has never been more important.”

“Incentives are helping move the market and should continue, but the speed of this shift to electric must be matched by an acceleration in the pace of charging infrastructure investment. Drivers should expect to be able to recharge irrespective of wherever they live, work or visit.”