Not long ago, PPG (the world's leading supplier of coatings and specialty materials) released the "2021 Global Automotive Color Trends Report", through this latest automotive color trends report, we can know which color body is the most popular in the world, and which color is more popular in different models.
Different from the length, width, height, wheelbase, weight, power, torque, acceleration time, braking distance and many other automotive hard index data commonly found in the automotive field, this color report provides us with more interesting data from another unique perspective. If you think about it, when we buy a car, the color really matters!
● Global automotive color trends
Directly speaking, from a global perspective, white is still the most popular color, ranking first, accounting for 35%; black ranked second, accounting for 18%; gray ranked third, accounting for 14%; silver ranked fourth, accounting for 11%. These four colors are superimposed together, accounting for 78% of the total, which can be said to be the preferred car color for consumers around the world.
In addition, in percentage order, popular colors include blue, red, natural, green, and other colors.
At the same time, it can also be seen through the data that vibrant colors such as gray, blue, green and violet are used by more sporty products, such as golf R, Subaru BRZ and other high-performance cars and sports car products, rather than the current more popular SUVs or pickup products.
Among them, it is worth mentioning that two-color body coatings have begun to become popular again in recent years, and as consumers pay more and more attention to the personalization of their cars, two-color body coating products such as MINI and Mercedes-Maybach have begun to become more and more numerous.
● Asia-Pacific automotive color trends
Since China has become the world's number one market for automobile production and sales, and its production and sales far exceed those of other Asia-Pacific countries, the Asia-Pacific automotive color trend data may more directly reflect the preferences of Chinese consumers for car colors in a broad sense.
Through the data, it can be seen that white is still the most popular color, ranking first, accounting for 41%; black ranked second, accounting for 20%; silver/gray ranked third, accounting for 19.5%; red ranked fourth, accounting for 6.6%; blue ranked fifth, accounting for 6%, which is basically the same as the color preference of the global market.
The color trend of models of all levels in China
In PPG's report, this part of the data directly becomes the color trend of various levels of models in China, and by the way, it is converted into a domestic model class classification, probably including luxury cars, mid-size cars, compact cars, small cars, SUVs and MPVs, which cover all the major categories of products in the current market.
In the luxury car market where Mercedes-Benz S-Class is located, black accounts for 40%, metallic white accounts for 26%, white accounts for 19%, blue accounts for 4.5%, and gray and red juxtaposed account for 3%. It can be seen that at this level, black is the absolute main force, after all, commercial use still accounts for the "big head" of the scope of use of "Million Luxury Cars".
Toyota Camry and other cars in the mid-size car market, black accounted for 40.5%, gray accounted for 19%, metallic white accounted for 16.5%, white accounted for 11%, compared to the luxury car market, gray buying crowd began to increase significantly, but black is still the absolute main force.
In the compact car market where Honda Civic and other cars are located, white accounts for 60.5%, black accounts for 10%, and gray accounts for 8.5%, in this market where most sales are for private car buyers, white has become the most popular choice.
Volkswagen Polo and other cars in the small car market, white accounted for 61%, blue accounted for 11.5%, black accounted for 6%, gray accounted for 5.5%, although white is still the absolute main force, but blue has become the second most popular color at this level, indicating that consumers who buy small cars are still more emotional.
In the SUV market, white accounts for 29%, metallic white accounts for 20.5%, black accounts for 17%, gray accounts for 14.5%, is still the four most popular main colors, but you can see that the distribution of various colors is more uniform, not showing a trend of white or black leading sharply.
In the MPV market, white accounts for 48%, silver accounts for 20%, natural color accounts for 17%, black accounts for 7%, metallic white accounts for only 1.5%, not as much as 3% of blue, so in the MPV field is still white and silver world - white is often a private car, and black/blue is mostly for business purposes.
● North American car color trend
Compared with the white/black preferences of the Asia-Pacific market, the North American market has a significant difference, where consumers prefer silver/gray, although white still ranks second, but it is not much different from the third place of black, and blue is also very popular, accounting for 12%, far more than the Asia-Pacific market.
Color trends in all classes of North American models
In the luxury car market, metallic white accounted for 26%, gray accounted for 14%, metallic black accounted for 13%, black accounted for 12%, silver accounted for 10.5%, blue accounted for 11%, and white accounted for only 6.5%. It can be seen that North American luxury car owners prefer metallic white and black, and the proportion of blue is also very high, but the distribution of various mainstream colors is relatively uniform.
The mid-size car market is still the world of gray and silver, and the combined account for 37%; blue is the third place, accounting for up to 17%; metallic white is the fourth place, accounting for 14%. It can be seen that North America prefers a vibrant and relatively stable blue color than the Asia-Pacific region.
In the compact car market, blue ranked first, accounting for 21.5%, with the decline of the model class, blue is becoming more and more popular; gray ranks second, accounting for 18.5%; metallic white ranks third, accounting for 17%; next, metallic black, red and silver account for 10% each.
The sports car market has shown a relatively more uniform color distribution law, gray accounted for 19.5%, blue accounted for 16%, black accounted for 15, white accounted for 14.5%, red accounted for 12%, silver accounted for 7%, through the data can see, gray, blue, black, white, red are very popular colors, the gap is not large.
Pickup truck market, North America's favorite white accounted for 23%, followed by gray accounted for 21.5%, the third place is metallic black accounted for 15%, silver accounted for 12.5%, red accounted for 9.5%, the most popular is still white, gray, metallic black and silver.
In the SUV market, gray is the most popular, accounting for 25%; metal silver is followed by 17%; silver accounts for 11%, blue accounts for 10%, red accounts for 7.5%, of which black accounts for only 5%, but metal black accounts for 13.5%. In the North American market, white is not favored, gray, metallic silver, metallic black, silver is more popular.
In the MPV market, the proportion of white increased to 18.5%, becoming the second most popular color, and the remaining mainstream colors were gray accounting for 23.5%, metallic silver accounting for 15.5%, silver accounting for 14.5%, metallic black accounting for 10.5%, red accounting for 7.5% and blue accounting for 7% slightly popular.
● European car color trends
European consumers' car color preferences are very exactly the same as those in North America, except for a slight difference in percentages, the top five are completely consistent, respectively, silver/gray first, accounting for 32%; white second, accounting for 26%; black third, accounting for 18%; blue fourth, accounting for 10%; red fifth, accounting for 7%.
Color trends in European models of all classes
In the luxury car market, Europeans prefer metallic black, accounting for 34.5%, followed by gray accounting for 20%, white accounting for 16.5%, blue accounting for 8.5%, metallic silver accounting for 6.5%, and black accounting for 5.5%. Compared with the same level of market in China and the United States, the proportion of gray luxury cars in Europe is also slightly higher.
The mid-size car market, similar to the color distribution of luxury cars, the most popular is still metallic black and gray, accounting for 29.5 and 22% respectively; followed by metallic white and blue, accounting for 16.5% and 9% respectively; white and silver accounted for 7.5% and 6.5% respectively, although the proportion of metallic white in this level of market increased, but metallic black is still the main force.
In the compact car market, gray and white are the most popular, accounting for 24.5% and 23% respectively, which are equal; metallic black and blue are also liked by many people, accounting for 13% and 10.5% respectively; red and silver account for 8.5% and 6% respectively, in this level of the market, the proportion of white and red began to rise.
In the sports car market, gray is the absolute main force, accounting for 30.5%; metallic black accounts for 17.5%, the second most popular; blue and metallic white account for similar, 13% and 12.5% respectively; of which red accounts for only 3.5%, or even far less than compact cars, a bit unexpected.
In the SUV market, gray is still the first, accounting for 26%; metallic black is second, accounting for 15.5%; white is third, accounting for 15%, which is very close to metallic black; blue is fourth, accounting for 12%; finally silver accounts for 8.5%, metallic white accounts for 7.5%, and red accounts for 7%, which is relatively close.
In the MPV market, white returned to the first place, accounting for 38.5%; gray second, accounting for 35%; metallic black accounted for 6.5%, black accounted for 4%, silver and blue accounted for 3.5% respectively, you can see white and black combined accounted for 74%, absolute dominance.
Summary: Black, white, gray, forever popular colors
The global auto color trend and the fashion industry maintain a high degree of consistency, black, white, gray has become the eternal popular color, whether it is China led by the Asia-Pacific region, or the United States led by North America, or Europe, most consumers will first choose in these three color series.
In addition, it can also be seen that in the global market, blue and red are also very popular colors, of which the Asia-Pacific region led by China is relatively more like red, while the North American and European markets with similar color selection tastes prefer blue, and these two colors are more used by sports cars, compact cars and SUVs in the global market.