Cars have been available in a range of colors since the first Model T rolled onto the market. It was only later, from 1914 to 1926, that the Model T was available in just one color—black. Henry Ford is often quoted as proclaiming that “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.” Supposedly, black paint dried faster than any other paint of the time and thus led to cars roll.

Most Popular Car Color
Before it was cool.

Of course, the full range of colors is available today. In fact, a couple of urban legends have been spawned by the idea that a car’s color is indicative of the owner’s personality. While there is no evidence that insurance companies use automobiles’ colors to determine insurance quotes, it’s still a common assumption along with the idea that red cars are more likely to get ticketed by police officers.

You may be wondering, what is the most popular car color? For seven years, silver was the most popular car color. It was seen as both a high-tech color and one that was safe for resell—not as many people would be turned off by a silver car as would be turned off by, say, a green car.

Buyers in 2007, however, broke the mold by buying more white cars than cars in any other color. Why? Well, it’s been said that a high-tech color like silver isn’t popular anymore. I disagree. I don’t think silver is a high-tech color anymore. Looking at the popularity of iPods, iPhones and other Apple products, I’d say white is going to be the color of technology for some time.

In 2007, nineteen percent of cars manufactured were white. Twenty-two percent of luxury cars were white. Eighteen percent of all cars were silver and sixteen percent were black.

Of course, given years of popularity, silver cars will still outnumber autos of other colors for awhile.

2007 Most Popular Car Colors
Source: DuPont 2007 Global Automotive Color Popularity Report

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