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1 September 2011
Blue is most popular choice of car colour
As new plated cars hit the forecourts, the AA expects to see an increase in blue cars as blue is the colour most drivers would choose for their car if they have a choice, closely followed by silver and black. Brown was the least popular choice followed by gold and yellow.
Quite a few drivers end up with a colour of car that wouldn't be their first choice. One in three 18 to 34 year olds would pick a black car if they had a choice but only one in six actually has a black car. Just 13% of 18-34 year olds would pick a silver car, yet 22% have one.
Overall, a desire for silver can be satisfied, with 22% of the entire sample wanting a silver car and 25% having one. The same goes for red, blue and white, although the 208 brown car owners (1%) must be the most frustrated as almost no-one (0.27%) wants one.
Silver is the favourite of the grey-haired driver, being the number one choice of AA members aged 55-64 (23%) and 65 and over (30%). It is a desire they satisfy, with the highest proportion of 55-64 year olds having one (25%) and also those aged 65 or more (31%).
Across all ages, desire versus reality looks like (colour – wanted v owned):
Blue was the colour more drivers wanted to own but silver clearly tops the league when it comes to the car colour most likely to sell quickly, most fashionable and easiest to keep clean
Edmund King, AA president
The top region for people driving blue cars (25%) is the home region of The Blues (Birmingham City FC), the West Midlands. The South, East Anglia, North East and Scotland follow closely behind with 24% driving blue cars.
Regionally the urge to buy a silver car is strongest in London (24%), Wales (23%), East Midlands (21%), Yorkshire and Humberside (23%) and the North West (21%). Those in East Anglia are most likely to want a blue car (24%) followed by drivers in the West Country and the NE (23%).
One of the attractions of silver is the feeling that it is by far the easiest to keep clean. Some 27% believe it is the colour that shows dirt the least. Gold, yellow, green and white cars were voted the least easy to keep clean.
When it comes to selling a car there are only two clear contenders for most saleable colours: silver (28%) and black (15%). Once again, the youngest drivers favour black (21%) but AA members aged 25 or more increasingly bet on silver to sell first.
Edmund King, AA president, said: "Blue is now the number one choice of car colour amongst AA members closely followed by silver. Brighter coloured cars, which have been popular in the past when the economy was more buoyant, seem to have slipped way down the league. The results show a discrepancy between desired colour of choice and actual colour of car as often the owner may not have a choice.
"For younger drivers that hanker after black cars but end up with lighter-coloured ones, there is a silver lining in that if they hang on to them they will grow to prefer them.
"Whilst blue was the colour more drivers wanted to own, silver clearly tops the league when it comes to the car colour most likely to sell quickly, most fashionable and easiest to keep clean."
(Based on results of an AA/Populus survey of 15,860 AA members between 20 - 27 July 2011)
(30 August 2011)
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