New car buyers become more conservative

Black and grey are now the colour of choice for one in four of new car buyers. That's according to latest motorparc figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). Last year saw a surge in the number of black and grey cars leaving showrooms compared to 2003. Meanwhile, the number of new red cars has halved since 1998.

SMMT chief executive Christopher Macgowan commented, “One hundred years ago, Henry Ford said you could buy the model T in any colour as long as it was black. Today, new car buyers have more model and colour choice than at any time in the past. But now black is increasingly the colour of choice, rather than of necessity.”

Blue dominates the British car parc. Of 29.4 million models running at the end of 2004, there were 1.6 million more blue models than of second-placed silver (7.3 v 5.7 million). Back in 1997, the picture was different. Of 25.6 million cars on the road, red was the most common colour, with silver down the league in fifth place with just over two million examples nation-wide.

Christopher Macgowan added, “The colour of the political landscape may have turned red since 1997 but the car parc has taken a turn for the blue.”