Is silver the new white and white the new black?

There are several factors which influence a buyer before they decide on what car they ultimately buy.

In much the same way as when we are buying a house we rarely get absolutely everything we want, unless we have an unlimited budget, so therefore there usually has to be a certain amount of compromise.

We might have “must haves” like 5 doors instead of 3, diesel instead of petrol, automatic over manual, where there can be no compromise and, with the amount of different options available on many cars these days, there can be many more decisions to be made before we can truly say we have made up our mind.

However there is one element that has always proved an emotive issue, one that has caused countless arguments in showrooms up and down the country every day, and that is colour!

Now, more than ever before, the choice of colours is remarkable and the fact manufacturers are producing more “lifestyle” colours ensures that there really is a colour for everyone. This is leading to what I believe is quite a sea change in attitudes and one which may not show up in the stats yet but nevertheless is certainly happening in many dealerships.

And that is the question; has silver had its day?

Recently I was in a Land Rover showroom and overheard a sales exec asking his s/m if he knew of any 2 year old Range Rover Sports coming in as he had a hot customer with cash ready to buy.

The s/m, somewhat taken aback said:

“What about the silver sport with low mileage sitting on the front?”

The sales exec replied:

“Come on boss, silver is the kiss of death, no one wants it!”

I sat back and thought that I had started to hear rumblings about this but couldn’t quite believe it, but as I looked at the forecourt it was obvious that a good amount of the dealers stock was anything but silver.

Even though it has been a safe choice with good resale value for many years, it seems that silver is the old white and white is the new black and even marmite colours like gold and cream or bright green or even brown are perceived to be more “exciting” and more saleable than silver.

Whether this is temporary and just the latest fashion I don’t know and there will be many reading this who will still be considering silver, but to hear many different people in different franchises saying that silver is not on the wish list is quite a shock.

It will certainly be interesting to see next time the stats are produced whether silver is still as prominent a choice and whether it has been overtaken in popularity by some of the latest colours.

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