Grey is UK's favourite car colour for fourth consecutive year

Almost a quarter of all new cars were painted grey in 2021.

By: James Fossdyke

Feb 2, 2022 at 3:00am ET

Add Motor1.com as a preferred source in Google

Comment

Grey was the UK’s most popular new car colour for the fourth year running, according to figures released this week. Data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) showed grey cars accounted for almost a quarter of all new cars registered in the UK over the course of 2021.

In total, 408,155 new grey cars were registered last year, up 2.8 percent on 2020 to take top spot for the fourth consecutive year. As a result, grey cars made up 24.8 percent of all new cars registered in Britain last year, allowing it to pip several other monotone shades to the top of the charts.

Black took second place for the fourth time in a row, adorning 20.5 percent of all new passenger cars, while white took third place with 17.2 percent of the market. That meant almost two-thirds (62.4 percent) of all new cars were painted in one of those three colours.

However, fans of more colourful vehicles might be pleased to note that 2021 saw blue cars get closer to the top three positions, lagging a mere 2,638 units behind white after increasing sales by 1.4 percent – the first increase in five years.

Red rounded out the top five, with an 8.8-percent market share, while silver grabbed sixth place with 6.8 percent of all sales. The rest of the top 10 was largely unchanged compared with 2020, although green managed to nab seventh place from orange, with sales rising by 24 percent compared with the year before. Even so, green only accounted for 1.1 percent of all new cars.

What do you think?

View

Comments

“2021 was anything but normal, but British drivers stuck to their familiar favourites of grey, black and white cars,” said SMMT chief executive Mike Hawes. “But while last year’s new cars might share the same shades as previous years, under the bonnet there has been a real shift, with one in six buyers choosing to go green.

“With car registrations still low compared to pre-pandemic [levels], helping even more drivers move to greener cars – whatever the actual colour – has never been more important. Incentives are helping move the market and should continue, but the speed of this shift to electric must be matched by an acceleration in the pace of charging infrastructure investment. Drivers should expect to be able to recharge irrespective of wherever they live, work or visit.”