We can't tell you what your vehicle's colour says about you, but we can let you know where the paint on the number you?re driving ranks on the popularity scale.
Dupont's automotive paint unit has published the results of a poll that it says is the first-ever ranking of worldwide vehicle colour popularity.
The company says its annual DuPont Global Automotive Color Popularity Report, which previously only had the US auto industry as its key focus, is the "most authoritative source for automotive color popularity information and trends".
Global trends converge
Vehicle-colour preferences are becoming more similar across the world, but distinct regional differences can still be found. Black, white and silver rank as the top three colors and show strongly around the globe.
DuPont Performance Coatings marketing manager Nancy Lockhart in a statement published with the poll said: "Colour preference can change from year to year because of a variety of factors including types of vehicles introduced, reduced vehicle size, consumer tastes and even the economy. These and other cultural, societal and demographic influences can shift regional trends over time."
She said that the auto industry has become an increasingly global business, "so regional and global color data are vitally important to designers".
"By gathering and analyzing color popularity data around the globe, DuPont is able to better identify trends and help our customers in the automotive industry develop color palettes for the future," she said.
Who prefers what
In North America, white (17.8 percent) remains the top colour-choice with black (17 percent) and silver (16.7 percent) in second and third place. However, an examination of black's popularity over time shows it is rising ? up six percentage points from 2005 ? while silver and white have dropped in popularity by about two points over the past five years. Blue and red remain solidly popular in the North American market, rising from 11 percent in 2006 to approximately 12 percent this year.
In Europe, the top colour, black (27 percent), continues to gain popularity over silver (19.9 percent), which is continuing to decline. White is growing in popularity but remains a second tier color with 10.2 percent of the market.
Japan recorded a wide swing of color popularity for the year, ultimately aligning more with the North American and European markets. White remained the top color choice - at 28 percent - dropping 4 points from 2008. Silver dropped five points to 23 percent, tied with black.
In contrast, the Chinese vehicle market experiences fluctuations in color preference. Silver rose four points to 36 percent for the year to remain the top color, with black dropping eight points to 23 percent as the second most popular color. As this market continues to grow there will likely be less variation year to year.
The market in India shows strong preference for silver (26.4 percent), white (23.4 percent), red (16.1 percent) and blue (10.9 percent) with the remaining colors each garnering 6 percent or less of the market. Of interest, the Russian market looks similar to India with strong chroma colors mixed throughout the rankings, most noticeably in the green area. In the Russian rankings, silver was first (23.4 percent), followed by green (18.2 percent), black (16.7 percent), blue (15.5 percent) and red (10.8 percent).
Top Ten Global Vehicle Colors:
- Silver ? 25 percent
- Black ? 23 percent
- White ? 16 percent
- Gray ? 13 percent
- Blue ? 9 percent
- Red ? 8 percent
- Brown/Beige ? 4 percent
- Green ? 1 percent
- Yellow/Gold ? 1 percent
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