Americans shun colored cars in favor of white and black rides
- Share via
When it comes to autos, white is the new white.
Automakers in North America offered more white cars than vehicles in any other color during the just-completed 2012 model year, according to the automotive coating division of PPG Industries.
The paint company said 22% of the 2012 cars painted white. That compares to 21% last year. White stole market share from black, which fell to 19% this year from 20% last year. Silver held steady at 20%.
Americans just don’t seem to be into cars with dynamic colors, according to the 2012 model year build data collected by PPG. Red is 9%, blue 7% and green 2%.
But that hasn’t stopped PPG from offering up some interesting colors for consideration by the industry for the 2014 model year and beyond.
PPG is pitching Al Fresco, a silver metallic with fresh green tint; Victoria Grey, a classic gray with an iridescent highlight of gold metal; Opulence, a refined red pearl with intense jewel tone; Glacier, an icy graphite gray with a slight violet blue tone; Sunshine, a bright high-sparkle intense yellow; and Elixir, a metallic mixture of silver and magenta.
When it comes to luxury cars, 33% were painted gray. Red was the most common color for sports cars, at 19%. Orange gets almost no love. It did best in the compact car and light truck segments, but even then tallied just 2%.
Despite their affinity for white, American car buyers aren’t as conservative as their counterparts abroad. In Europe 23% of the cars built during the last model year were white and 21% black. In Asia, 23% were white and another 23% were silver.
ALSO:
Honda recalls 1.4 million vehicles
Follow me on Twitter (@LATimesJerry), Facebook and Google+.
Inside the business of entertainment
The Wide Shot brings you news, analysis and insights on everything from streaming wars to production — and what it all means for the future.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
