NEWS: Black is Back - The UK's most popular car colour
The UK has a new favourite car colour, but why is that? And how are other car colours performing?
ALL BLACK EVERYTHING
As the hard working men and women of the UK have become more and more busy, it seems this has directly correlated to a new favourite car colour according to recent studies. Black cars are now the UK's most favoured car colour, and what is that most likely down to? A lack of time to appropriately clean the beautiful shell of their vehicles. Or of course, it could just be due to an increase in laziness... But we'll go with the notion that us Brits are simply too fatigued from our hard graft to keep on top of the spit and polish.
After four years as the reigning champ, white coloured cars fell down in to a modest third place. To put that into numbers; white cars fell by a considerably large 15% to a total of 482, 099 registered on road cars in 2017 compared to their dominating 2015 figure of 564, 393. Regionally, buyers in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales bucked the overall national trend, with white remaining their firm favourite. White was also the number one colour in the North of England.
It is suspected that this peel away from the white coloured car is a result of drivers perceiving white cars as more difficult to clean and maintain. On the other shaded hand, over half a million of car buyers opted for the sleek, slimming appearance of a black body of wheels in 2017. The most popular area in the UK for black coloured cars is drivers in the south of the country and in the West Midlands whereas drivers from the East Midlands mostly opted for grey.
In terms of variations in car colour designs, monochrome colours have pretty much always been the favourite for the UK car buyers due to simplicity, cost and convenience. Monochrome colours have sat comfortably at the top spot for 18 years according to the DVLA. Last year, monochromes represented over 60% of the 2.54 million cars registered. Although green was once the most popular car colour back in 1996, it has not reached the same heights of the top 5 list since 2002, even though the world has this big initiative to be more environmentally friendly... maybe next year we'll represent our eco-friendly team colours, eh? Last year it clocked in at the number seven spot as 1.1% new cars were christened green. The only primary colour t grace the top 5 list was blue as red fell back one place into sixth. Other notable colours that make up the top ten are orange at 0.8% and yellow with 0.4%.
On the glittery end of the scale, silver climbed into the top 5 taking fifth spot. However, the UK's fastest growing car colour choice as its demand was up 19.1% from last year. It seems there are more and more extroverts out their looking to show off their motor with this niche choice; it took up just 0.2% of the total cars registered last year. Additionally, the slightly less glamorous but still relatively popular car colour of bronze stayed in the top ten representing 0.5% of all cars. The classic girly colour most regularly decorated on a freshly qualified 17 year old young woman's first car, Pink, saw a decline with only 1,327 cars of that colour being registered in 2017, the lowest since 2011. A turn for the best? Or is a pink car for your child's first car?
The overtaking of the black coloured car might be giving the indication of just how reluctant the British public are to get out the hose, washing up liquid and a sponge, or alternatively pay someone to do it. Another factor that drivers consider is that plainer, safer colours offer better resale values. This is due to the thought that these colours will appeal to a broader group of buyers, which is true. The figures we've discussed certainly entertain that trend without any sign of changing. However, more car colours are on offer now than ever before, and if you could choose whatever car colour you wanted, what would it be? That is an issue which is partly nullified with the option of car leasing as the car is returned to the finance company. A service which XLCR is a leading supplier of.
But what are your thoughts? Is black the most practical option? Is it too much effort to clean your own car? If you're considering a new car and wish to browse your favourite motor in a range of colours that could really express your character on the roads, then take a look at the huge range of vehicles that we offer and get in touch with one of our expert account managers who can cater to your every car desire – it's as easy as a 4 year old finger painting a stencil drawn brum-brum!
