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New Car Buyers Embraced More Vibrant Colors In 2024: Report

One major factor influencing new car buyers when purchasing a new ride is its exterior color. For a while, buyers have gravitated more toward neutral car colors, opting for silvers and whites over a more colorful palette. New data, however, indicates that the grayscale vehicle trend is fading as new car buyers are adding more colorful vehicles to their personal fleets.

Image of two yellow Ford models in China, a color that is becoming increasingly popular among new car buyers.

According to the latest 2024 Color Report for Automotive OEM Coatings from BASF, a global chemical producer, new car buyers are more interested in “fun” color than they have been in the past. When shopping for new vehicles, customers are turning away from traditional whites and silvers in favor of warm hues like yellow and beige. Green has also enjoyed increased popularity, as have a chromatic colors like black and gray.

Even so, white remains the most popular color among new car buyers by a long shot, followed by gray. The third place beige, however, has nearly doubled its market share over the last year.

“Beige and neutral colors evoke a sense of calm and sophistication, reflecting the desire for stability in a fast-paced world,” said Mark Gutjahr, global head of Automotive Color Design at BASF. “They allow consumers to express their individuality while ensuring a timeless elegance in automotive design.”

A front three quarters view of the Ford F-150 Lightning.

Gray is also gaining traction in the U.S. Gray tones captured 20 percent of total market share throughout 2024, while the popularity of black decreased by two percentage points. Black has become increasingly popular in Asia, as has yellow, a braver choice for new car buyers. The Ford Ranger, in particular, looks good in gray – at least according to new car buyers in the Middle East, who are snapping the color up in droves. Other Ford pickup buyers, however, are less likely to buck the grayscale trend, opting for white or gray when purchasing their new Blue Oval ride.

Alexandra is a Colorado-based journalist with a passion for all things involving horsepower, be it automotive or equestrian.

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Comments

  1. We like the Grabber Yellow on our 2021 Ford Mach 1, with 480 HP, 6 speed manual. And, my wife likes her 2024 Ford Edge ST with Rapid Red Metallic. For bright colors, we also have a 2014 F150 with 5.0L with Blue Flame Metallic in the garage, with no rust!
    My 1st Mustang was a 1971 Mustang with 302 V-8 with Grabber Green Metallic.
    Sometimes I joke that she came after me because of the Grabber Green Mustang, not for me, when we first met.

    Reply
  2. Hearse black, refrigerator white, and battleship gray are not colors.

    Reply
  3. White is you like driving around a refrigerator especially if its a truck.

    Reply
  4. Ford had the dullest most boring colors of any OEM. Same dark boring colors for decades. Besides eliminating all cars and most smaller SUVs, soon the smaller will be the Ugly Bronco Sport or the boxy off road Bronco . My next vehicle with be a non Ford as they have no selection of mid to compact SUVs, and only dark colors . All the Asian OEMs love that Ford exited cars and now small SUVs , plus what they do offer are basically tweaked designs from a decade ago, ever a totally new product. The Maverick was Ok, then they updated it for #025 with the dug.y front bumper tabs, and the off center rear plate is odd too

    Reply
  5. The commercial vehicles are probably driving the count of white vehicles way up. And grey is just so… Boring.

    Reply

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