Blue third most popular colour choice for new cars
Fri, 07 Mar 2025
After years of neutral colours dominating the market, blue has surged back to be one of the three most popular colour choices for new cars, overtaking white.
But the best-selling new car colour in the UK remains grey, with more than 540,000 registrations last year. That’s a far-from-depressing 6.7% up on 2023.
Grey has a huge 120,000-car lead over the next-best colour, black – although black did outpace the growth of grey with a 9.9% improvement last year. The first non-monochrome colour is blue, in third place, just a few hundred cars ahead of white. It was the first time since 2010 that blue had been in the top three.
Meanwhile, revealed the analysis from Nationwide Vehicle Contracts, sales of white cars actually fell 7.2% last year.
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Red and silver, in fifth and sixth, also fell in popularity last year – but green, in seventh, grew a healthy 27.7% in 2024. 68,230 registrations marked the highest point for the colour in 20 years.
These days, green tends to be associated with EVs. In Greater London, revealed the analysis, more green cars were sold than anywhere else in the UK, "likely reflecting the capital’s focus on cleaner transport."
Yellow was stable in eighth place, moving ahead of orange which plummeted 35.5%. Bronze was 10th, albeit recording just 5526 new car registrations.
UK’s top new car colours
| Rank | Colour | No. of registrations | % change since 2023 |
| 1 | Grey | 543,464 | 6.7% |
| 2 | Black | 423,397 | 9.9% |
| 3 | Blue | 291,928 | 1.6% |
| 4 | White | 291,629 | -7.2% |
| 5 | Red | 136,371 | -4.1% |
| 6 | Silver | 122,473 | -1.6% |
| 7 | Green | 68,230 | 27.7% |
| 8 | Yellow | 11,944 | 0.5% |
| 9 | Orange | 10,754 | -35.5% |
| 10 | Bronze | 5526 | 13% |
But what does the colour of a car say about its driver? Clinical counsellor Niloufar Esmaeilpour says that those who choose bold, bright colours like red or yellow can be viewed as outgoing, energetic or confident.
Those more interested in neutral tones of black, white or grey value sophistication, practicality or understatement.
"A person who is optimistic or excited might be drawn to bright colour such as orange or yellow, whereas a person who is introspective or shy may prefer darker colours like black or navy."
Esmaeilpour even suggested the cars colours drivers should ideally avoid on the road. "Bold colours such as red or bright yellow are believed to be for the risk-taker, so are the colours to be wary of.”
In contrast, subdued colours such as beige, grey or white are more likely to be cautious, so they are likely to drive carefully on the roads.
"These associations can help understand an individual’s personality and how they interact with the world around them," she added.
