Currently reading: Grey was most popular colour for new cars in 2020
Black and white take the second and third spots, but there's brighter news for fans of yellow and bronze

Grey was the most popular choice for UK new car buyers in 2020 for the third year running, adorning nearly a quarter of all cars registered. 

Of the 1.63 million cars sold in the UK last year, 397,197 (24.3%) were painted grey, new figures released by the SMMT show. Black was the second most popular choice, accounting for 19.9% of new cars, while white was third, with 17.4%. 

Elsewhere, the chart makes for familiar reading, with blue in fourth, followed by red, silver, orange, green and - in reverse order to last year - yellow and bronze. 

The biggest shift was in red cars, of which just 147,222 examples were sold in 2020, compared with more than 200,000 every year prior since 1997.

Yellow, however, increased its market share by 50%.

2 Skoda octavia vrs iv 2020 uk first drive hero rear 0

The SMMT data also reveals correlations between fuel type and colour. While grey was most popular for conventionally fuelled cars, it was white that won out for EVs and plug-in hybrid buyers favoured black. 

Overall, grey dominated nationwide, even in Scotland and the Channel Islands, which bucked the trend in 2019. There were pockets of colour, however, with blue cars topping the sales charts in the Isle of Wight and Strathclyde opting for white. 

Pink didn't feature in the top 10 but was most popular in Leicestershire, which accounted for 23.7% of all UK cars painted in the colour. Orange cars were mostly destined for the West Midlands, by contrast. 

Of the 106 different colours registered throughout 2020, maroon was the least popular.

The last time a non-monochrome colour topped the sales charts was in 1999, when blue found favour with UK buyers. After the millennium, silver dominated for eight consecutive years, before black, white and grey began to battle for the top spot each year. 

The most popular grey car was also one of the biggest-selling overall, the Volkswagen Golf, while the Mercedes-Benz A-Class held the title for white and black. Blue was found mostly on the Ford Fiesta, red and orange were most popular for the Vauxhall Corsa and Mini variants took the majority of silver and green paint.

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1 Ford fiesta mhev 2020 uk fd hero front

It was Peugeot buyers who kept yellow and bronze in the top 10, with the new Peugeot 208 hatchback and its 3008 sibling popular in the brighter shades.

READ MORE

Grey rules the roost as UK’s favourite car colour in 2019​

White vehicles most popular globally for 10th year running​

Felix Page

Felix Page
Title: News and features editor

Felix is Autocar's news editor, responsible for leading the brand's agenda-shaping coverage across all facets of the global automotive industry - both in print and online.

He has interviewed the most powerful and widely respected people in motoring, covered the reveals and launches of today's most important cars, and broken some of the biggest automotive stories of the last few years. 

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ianp55 15 January 2021

Being the owner of a Suzuki Swift Sport I'm glad to hear that yellow is becoming more popular,I've been a car owner for nearly fifty years and I've never had a grey car,I've only had one black and one silver  car and I don't think I'd want to buy another.It's good that brighter colours are coming back in favour,for 2021  Ford have introduced two of the most striking new colours Mean Green on the Puma ST and Sedona Orange on the Transit & Transit Connect  hopefully they'll more available in the model range

rhwilton 15 January 2021

Silver isn’t a separate colour from grey. It is light grey. When will we be relieved from this monochrome misery? Living in a grey country with grey cars. Dullsville.