After a decade of silver leading the pack as the world's most popular car color, white is now No. 1 with 20 percent of all cars painted white, according to PPG Industries in Detroit.
The color trends data company recently announced that white now has one percent lead over silver globally. But while white is also the leading color in North America, geographically color preferences are drastically different. In Europe, black is the favorite color among car buyers.
Among North American car buyers, here are the percentages: white (20 percent), silver (19), black (18), gray (15), red (9), blue (9).
And what a difference 17 years make. Green, once the most popular color, is now the least popular.
In Europe, black leads the ratings with 26 percent. White (19), silver (16), gray (15) and blue (9) follow.
In the Asia/Pacific region, silver (25 percent) was the most popular color in 2011, followed by white, black, gray and red.
Article Last Updated: October 13, 2011.
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A sports, travel and business journalist for more than 45 years, James has written the new car review column The Weekly Driver since 2004.
In addition to founding this site in 2004, James writes a Sunday automotive column for The San Jose Mercury and East Bay Times in Walnut Creek, Calif., and monthly auto review and wellness columns for Gulfshore Business, a magazine in Southwest Florida.
An author and contributor to many newspapers, magazines and online publications, co-hosted The Weekly Driver Podcast from 2017 to 2024.