Revealed: Britain’s favourite car colour for 2024

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world

Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email

Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email

Britain’s favourite car colours have been revealed, with blue becoming one of the top three most popular colours for the first time in 15 years.

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said 291,928 new cars registered last year were blue.

That was 1.6 per cent more than in the previous year, and represents a market share of 14.9 per cent.

White cars, however, dropped from favour falling third to fourth place with 291,629 registrations, a year-on-year decline of 7.2 per cent. Red cars have fallen significantly out of favour in the past five years.

The mutest colour of all, grey, retained top spot with a market share of 27.8 per cent, while black remained at number two with 21.7 per cent market share.

The top colours it seems reflect our nation’s mood. Previous research from The Economist showed that British buyers have traditionally bought cars which are darker when the national mood is less optimistic. When times are better, we dare to buy brighter colours.

Lots of buyers still stick to silver, grey, and black as they think these colours are the safe choice and hold their resale value.

But, perhaps reflecting the growing popularity of low or zero-emission new cars, there were 68,230 registrations with the colour green, up 27.7 per cent. Car manufacturers have pointed to green as an ongoing trend.

Society chief executive Mike Hawes said: “While 2024 saw more new car buyers go green, with a record number of EVs reaching the road, the face of the market remains familiar, with grey and black proving perennially popular.

“While manufacturers strive to ensure every driver can have their pick of a vast choice of paint colours and personalisation options to suit their individual tastes, it seems UK car buyers’ preferences remain steadfastly monochrome.”

So what happened to all the colour?

Manufacturer Renault said it hopes to “bring some joie de vivre to the UK’s roads” by making its new Renault 5 car available in vibrant colours named Pop Yellow and Pop Green.