White remains drivers’ colour of choice

Demand for pink cars rose 82.7% last year, but white maintained its position as the UK’s most popular new car colour for the fourth year in a row.

According to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT), more than half a million new car buyers chose the colour last year – a fifth of all registrations – although figures show its popularity is starting to fade with demand falling -2.1%, the first drop since 2005.

White and black are the nation’s two favourite car colours – of the 2.69 million new cars registered in 2016, white (552,329) and black (542,862) took more than 40% market share. While white maintained its lead in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, in England it was overtaken by black as the new car colour of choice.

Nationally, the third and fourth most popular colours were grey and blue, both gaining market share. Meanwhile, yellow cars appeared in the top 10 for the first time since 2013 at the expense of mauve, which dropped to 11th place.

Meanwhile, demand for pink rose more than any other colour, although it’s still a niche market with just 3,527 new units. The SMMT also reported a 44% rise in demand for bronze cars, up to 8,902, while turquoise’s popularity grew fourfold last year, from just 792 registrations in 2015 to 2,718.

Going the other way, demand for brown, beige and silver all fell significantly.