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In a 1909 meeting, Henry Ford said, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.” In the century-plus since he said that, manufacturers—including Ford—have relaxed that requirement somewhat, offering vehicles painted in a rainbow of colors, up to and including actual rainbows.
When you look around while driving, though, it seems like there are just a few colors in everyday use. That begs the question: “just what are the most popular colors for cars these days?” For that, we turn to the experts, in this case, Pittsburgh Plate Glass, better known as PPG. Though as its name implies, PPG was first a glass company, it now is among the top producers of automotive paints.
According to Jane E. Harrington, PPG Manager, auto manufacturer’s attitudes have loosened a bit since Ford’s day. “Color and styling choices by original equipment manufacturers must be responsive to differences among potential buyers. They need to consider everyone from technology-focused millennials to family-focused baby boomers, monitoring sales data and style trends to try to predict two or three years in advance of a model year what colors and effects they will offer.”
According to the PPG website, the most popular color for automobiles across the planet in 2015 was (drum roll, please) …white, at 35 percent. Sorry, Henry; black came in a distant second, with 17 percent, followed by silver, grey, natural, red, blue, green and “other.” Looking solely at North America, the order wasn’t much different, with white at 23 percent and black at 19 percent followed by grey, silver, red and blue.
Surprisingly, with all the choices available (PPG introduced 64 new shades to the industry for the 2018-19 model years), people still prefer tried-and-true, drab monochrome colors. Those new colors come with some interesting names, by the way, including “Hyper HD,” “IM Perfect,” “Knight’s Watch” and “Lucid Dreams.”
If your vehicle needs a paint touch up or a complete paint job, contact our auto body shop. Robert’s Collision & Repair uses environmentally-friendly waterborne paint and an infrared paint-drying process that allows us to return your vehicle more quickly than traditional auto paint techniques. Call us or schedule an appointment online for mechanical repair, auto body repair, auto detailing, new tires, waterborne paint, and more.