Clinton Township, Michigan — December 15, 2016 — Black is on the upswing as a colour choice for North American vehicles, according to Axalta’s latest Global Automotive Color Popularity Report.
The report confirms a continued preeminence by white in North America and worldwide, marking the sixth consecutive year that white has proved the most popular colour choice. The popularity of the shade has even increased since 2015, and now stands at 37 percent worldwide. Globally, black is the second most popular colour at 18 percent.
The numbers are a little different when we look at North America alone. Here, black hits 21 percent. White is still in the top spot in North America, but only beats out black by 4 percent to come in at 25 percent. Next most popular in North America is grey, coming in third place at 16 percent.
Silver’s popularity has taken a tumble this year, coming in at 11 percent in North America. According to a statement from Axalta, silver hasn’t been at levels this low since 1998. Silver briefly overtook white as the most popular colour worldwide in 2011, but the numbers have since declined.
Axalta’s report breaks down colour choice by region and by vehicle type. Looking at vehicle type in North America, we find that black is predominant in the Compact/Sport category, with 21 percent. This narrowly edges out white in this category, which came in at 20 percent. White continues to predominate in the Truck/SUV, Intermediate/CUV and Luxury/Luxury SUV categories.
Outside of North America, we find that Asia favours white more than any other region. At a remarkable 48 percent, white appears on almost one of every two vehicles there. Light colours are most favoured in Africa, with silver and white making up 63 percent of new vehicle purchases. The dominant colour in Europe is grey, at 17 percent.
The Axalta Global Automotive 2016 Color Popularity Report is available for download here.
