What Are the Trendy Car Body Colors?

The automotive landscape is as rich, varied, and diverse as the colors of car bodies. A quick overview with BASF.

The market share of chromatic colors has remained unchanged, while achromatic colors have experienced significant growth. Indeed, despite a 3% decline in market share in favor of black, white remains the most popular color for light passenger vehicles.

Achromatic colors (white, black, gray, silver) have gained two percentage points in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. Consumer preferences have shifted, reflecting a transition from lighter shades such as white and silver to darker tones like black and gray. Luxury vehicles feature more effect pigments compared to entry-level and mid-range models to emphasize depth and originality of the color.

Regarding European consumers’ color choices, preferences vary by country. Germany favors blue (11%), Spain and the United Kingdom prefer red and orange (about 9%), France loves green (6%), and Italy appreciates all colors, with the highest share of chromatic colors among these five countries (30%).

In North America, the silver tone surpasses gray to join the top three most popular colors. It is in this region that the highest number of red vehicles has been produced compared to other regions worldwide. However, red has not yet surpassed blue, which remains the favorite chromatic color in North America.

Regarding Asia Pacific, this region stands out as the only one experiencing increased color diversity. The diversification of vehicle body styles has contributed to expanding the color range. It is also worth noting that chromatic colors have shown a slight increase in market share compared to 2022. The popularity of natural colors is rising, particularly green. Light colors are gaining recognition, especially light gray tones and silver.

Finally, South American roads feature more achromatic colors than those in all other regions. 86% of new vehicles assembled in South America had white, black, silver, or gray bodies. This percentage is the highest among all regions. South America also leads in the proportion of silver vehicles.

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