The most popular car colors

The most popular car colors

The current BASF Color Report for Automotive OEM Coatings analyzed the color trends of 2023. Conclusion: Achromatic colors as the basis for automotive colors have experienced a significant change. While white continued to be the most common color for small cars, it saw a significant decline in market share. In contrast, black became more popular and took over market share, especially from white.

Consumer preferences differed from region to region. In North America, lighter silver tones were increasingly preferred over darker gray tones, while in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa) the trend was towards darker tones. The chromatic shades, on the other hand, remained stable without any significant change in their overall market share (19%). This category includes colors such as blue, red, brown and beige, which continue to be popular with customers.

In the EMEA region, the achromatic colors white, black, gray and silver gained two percentage points. Car buyers switched from the lighter shades of white and silver to the darker shades of black and gray. Premium cars had more effect pigments than entry-level and mid-range cars, showing the depth and creativity that can be achieved with color tones. When choosing colors, European customers show country-specific preferences. Germany favors blue (11%), Spain and Great Britain prefer red and orange (approx. 9%), France likes green (6%) and Italy loves all colors. There, the proportion of chromatic colors is the highest of all five countries (30%). “Although achromatic colors are still the most popular, every country seems to have its favorite color in the chromatic range,” says Mark Gutjahr, global head of automotive color design at BASF.