9:23 am, January 20, 2025
Grey was Britain’s most popular choice of car colour in 2024, as the shade topped the list for an astonishing seventh year in a row.
Data published by the SMMT over the weekend showed that more than a quarter (27.8%) of all new car registrations in 2024 were grey, marking the shade’s best ever share of the market.
Overall, a whopping 543,464 grey cars joined British roads throughout last year – a rise of up 6.7% on the previous year.
The result meant that grey left second placed black trailing far in its wake, with blue moving up to third place for the first time since 2010.
It was the first change to the top three in seven years with the trio of grey, black and blue making up an enormous 64.5% of all new cars on UK roads.
Elsewhere, white dropped to fourth, falling by 7.2%, with red holding firm in fifth place despite a drop of 4.1% to reach its lowest market share since 2003.
Analysis by the SMMT found that 93 different colours sold in 2024, with green and yellow rising into the top 10 with increased market share of 27.7% and 0.5% respectively.
At the other end of the scale, pink, maroon and turquoise vehicles together accounted for just 747 registrations in total.
Reflecting the growing popularity of ‘green’ powered cars, green-coloured vehicles saw 68,230 new registrations, more than double than in 2022 and the highest volume since 2004.
However, even among EVs, grey was still the favoured choice among buyers with 95,463 all-electric units selling in the colour.
Looking at the data by segment, the three best-sellers – dual purpose, supermini, and lower medium – were all most popular in grey,
However, black was the shade of choice for executive cars (34.2%) and luxury saloons (42.1%), while white remained the top choice for the multi-purpose segment (25.7%).
Perhaps unsurprisingly, grey was also the most popular colour in all British regions and counties, with black coming second everywhere, except the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands where white was number two.
Reacting to the results, Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, 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.’
