Brits bought a record number of new cars last year, but what was the best selling colour?
White was the most popular colour for new cars last year. It was closely followed black and grey, with Brits opting for neutral tones as they smashed the record for new car purchases.
The UK’s car manufacturers boomed last year on the back of strong domestic sales – 2015 was their best year for a decade. According to figures published by the Society for Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) this morning, more than of fifth of those strong domestic sales were white cars. It has held on to the top spot for three years running.
The second best selling white car was the Volkswagen Polo, despite the company becoming embroiled in an emissions-cheating scandal last September. It was beaten by the Ford Focus but finished ahead of the Fiat 500.
A total of 2,635,518 new cars were registered in the UK last year, breaking the all-time record. The SMMT said 169,678 cars were registered in January, the best start to the year for 12 years.
Silver’s decline continued. Silver dominated the rankings between 2000 and 2008, but has dropped down to sixth.
| Colour | No. Registrations | % market share | % change on 2014 |
| 1. White | 564,393 | 21.4 | 2.2 |
| 2. Black | 509,677 | 19.4 | 5.3 |
| 3. Grey | 411,717 | 15.6 | 21.1 |
| 4. Blue | 386,432 | 14.7 | 15.5 |
| 5. Red | 318,897 | 12.1 | 1.8 |
| 6. Silver | 295,429 | 11.2 | -5.2 |
| 7. Green | 28,250 | 1.1 | 31.2 |
| 8. Brown | 25,445 | 1.0 | -23.3 |
| 9. Orange | 17,773 | 0.7 | 25.7 |
| 10. Mauve | 12,719 | 0.5 | 30.0 |