Silver still the number one car colour choice while green is still last

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Much has been written about cars of the future – will they be full electric, hybrid or powered by a fuel cell? Everyone has their view, but have you ever wondered what colour they may be?

How about Denim, a classic blue with a high effect sparkle; or Cognac, a rich coppery warm brown with an iridescent highlight; Silky Silver, a liquid silver look with a slight bronze cast. Then there’s Moonshine Blue, a pale silvery blue like the reflection of the moon on a lake; and Wicked, a sinister green colour inspired by couture fashion.

These are just some of the colours revealed to carmakers in Detroit this week by global paint manufacturer PPG Industries.

Jane Harrington, the company’s colour styling manager, said: “Colour is an important component of how today’s car maker can define and differentiate a vehicle or brand in the marketplace.

“The palette of colours being developed for the automotive market is clearly being influenced by culture, nature, fashion, movies, media, electronics and many consumer products.”

Despite introducing these exotic new colours, PPG revealed that silver (yawn) once again seems to be the choice of car customers around the world, but green is definitely out of favour.

For the tenth consecutive year, silver has ranked as the most popular vehicle colour in the world according to PPG. In fact, silver’s popularity is at its highest since 1990 when the data was first recorded.

In North America, the silver, grey and charcoal category saw a dramatic rise in popularity to 31% this year. It accounted for 25% in 2009 and 20% in 2008.

Black and white tied for second on 18% with red third (11%). Blue was fourth, (10%) while naturals, like brown, tan, gold, orange and yellow, accounted for 8% and green was last with 4%.

PPG said that just 16 years ago green was the most popular colon on vehicles in North America with 21%, while silver covered only 8% in 1994.

In Europe, silver and charcoal (32%) were followed by black, 24%, white, 20%, blue, 10%, red, 9%, naturals, 5% and green 1%. Other ‘niche’ colours accounted for the final 1%.

In Asia Pacific silver and charcoal led with 33% followed by white, 21%, black, 19%, red, 10%, blue, 8%, naturals, 6%, niche colours, 4% and green, 2%.

Source: Headlineauto.co.uk / PPG