Black remains most popular car colour on Britain’s roads

Black remains the most popular car colour on Britain’s roads, with 6.5 million vehicles, but white is the most popular choice for new cars registered.

Looking at data from the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency (DVLA) for every car registered as of March 2020, the number of white cars rose by 269,314 compared to a year earlier, giving an overall total of just under 5m (4,954,510).

The growth in black cars was much lower, with 11,806 units added in 2020. In March 2019, the figure was 112,035 and in 2018 it was 132,641.

Black’s nearest rival is silver, which has 5.7m (18% share of all cars). There were 363,485 fewer silver cars on the roads in 2020 than there were at the same point in 2019, and more than 1m fewer than in 2016 (1,084,780).

Blue occupies third spot with 5,593,298 – down 87,865 on 2019 but still accounting for 17% of all cars on the roads, with grey in fourth on just under 5m (15.2% share of all cars) – down 236,027 since March 2019, and white in fifth place.

The DVLA data, collated by RAC Insurance, also shows that red is the next most popular colour, with 3.5m, while it is followed by green, which only accounts for 667,000 cars, representing 2% of the whole car parc. Orange (8th), beige/buff (9th) and brown (10th) complete the top 10 colours, each only making up under 1% of all cars.

Pink is the least popular car colour with 22,728 but that has increased very steadily since 2017 when there 19,959 – only multicoloured cars are less popular with just 6,724 down from 7,455 in 2017.

RAC Insurance spokesman Simon Williams said: “While black continues to top the car colours popularity chart, the appeal of white is still very much on the up.

“In fact, today there are 1.5m more white cars on the roads than there were in 2016. It remains to be seen whether white will make its way into the top five car colours, however. If it does, it will have to depose grey, blue or silver.”

He continued: “It’s always very interesting trying to work out at what point a colour goes out of fashion. Clearly, this is what happened with silver which was the number-one choice in 2017 but fell back into second a year later and has remained there ever since.

“While taste in car colours is very individual and subject to what manufacturers offer, there must come a point where drivers feel a particular colour has become too common and think they should opt for something else, after all it wouldn’t be much fun if we all drove the same colour cars.”

Rank	Colour	Mar-20	Share
1	Black	6,578,946	20.1%
2	Silver/Aluminium	5,756,535	17.6%
3	Blue	5,593,298	17.1%
4	Grey	4,954,510	15.2%
5	White	4,395,922	13.5%
6	Red	3,486,735	10.7%
7	Green	667,000	2.0%
8	Orange	215,535	0.7%
9	Beige/Buff	208,349	0.6%
10	Brown	196,089	0.6%
11	Yellow	166,799	0.5%
12	Purple/Mauve/Violet	112,037	0.3%
13	Gold	105,065	0.3%
14	Bronze	90,901	0.3%
15	Turquoise	35,283	0.1%
16	Maroon	29,964	0.1%
17	Cream/Ivory	29,875	0.1%
18	Pink	22,728	0.1%
19	Multicoloured	6,724	0.0%
		32,652,295

Rank	Colour	Mar-19	Share
1	Black	6,567,140	20.1%
2	Silver/Aluminium	6,120,020	18.7%
3	Blue	5,681,163	17.4%
4	Grey	4,718,483	14.4%
5	White	4,126,608	12.6%
6	Red	3,478,479	10.6%
7	Green	745,576	2.3%
8	Beige/Buff	219,680	0.7%
9	Orange	198,499	0.6%
10	Brown	194,889	0.6%
11	Yellow	170,515	0.5%
12	Purple/Mauve/Violet	117,083	0.4%
13	Gold	116,929	0.4%
14	Bronze	88,511	0.3%
15	Turquoise	35,153	0.1%
16	Maroon	31,506	0.1%
17	Cream/Ivory	29,497	0.1%
18	Pink	21,671	0.1%
19	Multicoloured	6,996	0.0%
		32,668,398

Rank	Colour	Mar-17	Share
1	Silver/Aluminium	6,783,347	21.2%
2	Black	6,322,464	19.7%
3	Blue	5,806,628	18.1%
4	Grey	4,127,994	12.9%
5	Red	3,418,215	10.7%
6	White	3,397,267	10.6%
7	Green	955,149	3.0%
8	Beige/Buff	234,526	0.7%
9	Brown	184,294	0.6%
10	Yellow	176,396	0.6%
11	Orange	161,862	0.5%
12	Gold	138,089	0.4%
13	Purple/Mauve/Violet	122,647	0.4%
14	Bronze	73,064	0.2%
15	Turquoise	34,342	0.1%
16	Maroon	34,070	0.1%
17	Cream/Ivory	24,433	0.1%
18	Pink	19,959	0.1%
19	Multicoloured	7,455	0.0%
		32,022,201

Colour	Mar-17	Mar-18	Mar-19	Mar-20
Black	6,322,464	6,455,105	6,567,140	6,578,946
Silver/Aluminium	6,783,347	6,442,021	6,120,020	5,756,535
Blue	5,806,628	5,727,825	5,681,163	5,593,298
Grey	4,127,994	4,421,661	4,718,483	4,954,510
White	3,397,267	3,773,610	4,126,608	4,395,922
Red	3,418,215	3,436,711	3,478,479	3,486,735
Green	955,149	837,142	745,576	667,000
Orange	161,862	176,042	198,499	215,535
Beige/Buff	234,526	226,167	219,680	208,349
Brown	184,294	191,217	194,889	196,089
Yellow	176,396	172,672	170,515	166,799
Purple/Mauve/Violet	122,647	119,418	117,083	112,037
Gold	138,089	126,937	116,929	105,065
Bronze	73,064	82,564	88,511	90,901
Turquoise	34,342	35,057	35,153	35,283
Maroon	34,070	32,545	31,506	29,964
Cream/Ivory	24,433	27,460	29,497	29,875
Pink	19,959	21,074	21,671	22,728
Multicoloured	7,455	7,130	6,996	6,724
All cars total	32,022,201	32,312,358	32,668,398	32,652,295
Change		290,157	356,040	-16,103
% change		1%	1%	0%

Colour	Change Mar-17 to Mar-18	Change Mar-18 to Mar-19	Change Mar-19 to Mar-20	Change Mar-17 to Mar-20	% change Mar-19 to Mar-20	% change Mar-17 to Mar-20
Black	132,641	112,035	11,806	256,482	0%	4%
Silver/Aluminium	-341,326	-322,001	-363,485	-1,026,812	-6%	-15%
Blue	-78,803	-46,662	-87,865	-213,330	-2%	-4%
Grey	293,667	296,822	236,027	826,516	5%	20%
White	376,343	352,998	269,314	998,655	7%	29%
Red	18,496	41,768	8,256	68,520	0%	2%
Green	-118,007	-91,566	-78,576	-288,149	-11%	-30%
Orange	14,180	22,457	17,036	53,673	9%	33%
Beige/Buff	-8,359	-6,487	-11,331	-26,177	-5%	-11%
Brown	6,923	3,672	1,200	11,795	1%	6%
Yellow	-3,724	-2,157	-3,716	-9,597	-2%	-5%
Purple/Mauve/Violet	-3,229	-2,335	-5,046	-10,610	-4%	-9%
Gold	-11,152	-10,008	-11,864	-33,024	-10%	-24%
Bronze	9,500	5,947	2,390	17,837	3%	24%
Turquoise	715	96	130	941	0%	3%
Maroon	-1,525	-1,039	-1,542	-4,106	-5%	-12%
Cream/Ivory	3,027	2,037	378	5,442	1%	22%
Pink	1,115	597	1,057	2,769	5%	14%
Multicoloured	-325	-134	-272	-731	-4%	-10%

Our new special report

Your 62-page souvenir guide to winners, finalists and those who were highly commended at the 2024 awards.

Read now

Author: Gareth Roberts

News editor

gareth.roberts@bauermedia.co.uk

01733 468314

Gareth has more than 20 years’ experience as a journalist having started his career in local newspapers in the 1990s. Prior to joining Fleet News in 2008, he worked in the public sector as a media advisor and is currently news editor at Fleet News.