More and More Somber Colors on Today’s Cars

A Reddit user analyzed car sales and found that colors have changed since the 1990s.

This “Redditor,” named u/Feemiror, used Python programming language to compile data from 3.5 million cars for sale online in Poland to determine the existing colors on the market. He then transformed it into a chart to show the color changes since the early 1990s.

A significant increase in black, white, and gray colors can be observed. Conversely, cheerful colors like blue, green, or yellow have unfortunately declined. The actual data behind the graph is available via this link.

What can we say about car colors?

Every driver with a parent or friend passionate about automobiles has probably heard complaints about stains on their car and difficulties in maintaining it.

To the dismay of owners, black and white colors with a shiny finish are difficult to preserve. A car is exposed to puddles, rain, leaves, pollen… which leave traces on the bodywork.

Other car colors suffer from the same problem, but it is less visible. The color of the car attracts the eye to the model rather than its stains. Colors that are gradually disappearing include: purple, yellow, beige, brown, and green. They are being replaced by blue, red, gray, black, and white.

Two shades of gray have increased in production since the 1990s. These different grays make it easier for mechanics to replace body parts, as they don’t need to repaint or find the exact color before installing the part!

Are colors necessarily duller?

Another visual representation supports this theory, tracing back the origins of Volkswagen Golf production since the 1970s. In 1971, blue and white alone accounted for 40% of Volkswagen sales. Just by looking at the graph, you can see the gradual disappearance of green, yellow, and brown, in favor of black and gray.

Anthracite gray is the color showing the most increase since 1971. Back then, only 4% of recorded Golf models were sold in this color, rising to 35% in 2020. Black follows a similar upward trend, from 10% in 1971 to 29% in 2020.

Some luxury cars are still represented by certain colors: the so-called “Papaya” orange by McLaren, the Ferrari red from Maranello, the dark green “British Racing Green” (Aston Martin, Jaguar, Lotus) to name a few.

An encouraging point to counteract this increase in duller colors is that you might choose a lighter color for your next car purchase!

Read also: The BMW iX Flow can change color to increase its autonomy