Grey, white, black and silver are far and away the most popular colours on cars, according to a new(ish) report. This is the kind of soul-deadening news I’ve grown accustomed to these days, even if those colours have been the most popular for a while. You know what colour you should be getting? The answer is green. Disagree? Take it elsewhere.
Somewhat disturbingly, just one per cent made that choice, per Axalta, which used to be DuPont’s automotive division and sells coatings. I’m assuming the fact that 80 per cent of the market is white, black, grey, or silver is skewed by commercial fleets, but how boring is the world we live in that that is the case.
Here are Axalta’s findings:
And here is a nonsensical quote:
Elke Dirks, Axalta Colour Designer for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, says, “After the demand for grey rose in the SUV sector last year in Europe, we saw 5% growth this year in the Compact/Sport sector. For the first time in Europe, the variety of natural to refined and sophisticated grey surpassed white as the long-time favourite. Europeans have expressed their desire to use grey to quieten the emotional noise in their lives and feel comforted by its presence.”
You know what helps quiet the emotional noise of my life? A nice shade of green. British racing green, if you’re feeling nostalgic. Or a nice lime shade. Or sage. I would even go for a tasteful seafoam.
Green complements the red and yellow and white of the car’s lights the best. Green also means go. Why the market for brown cars (which is the colour of poop) is triple than that for green is beyond me.
Most startling is that green is, in this context, some kind of a hipster choice. My own car is blue but I wish it were green.