October 5th, 2010
02:46 PM ET

Silver cars rule the road, paint maker says

Silver has been the most popular vehicle color for 10 years, PPG Industries says.

Most cars are made of steel, so they start out as silver shells moving down the assembly line. Apparently a lot of drivers like that look: For the 10th consecutive year, silver is the most popular car color in the U.S. and the world, according to PPG Industries, a leading maker of vehicle coatings.

Silver, gray and charcoal, counted together as a group, accounted for 31 percent of vehicles in North America in 2010 results announced Tuesday. The silver category also was the leader in the European and Asia-Pacific markets, the company reported.

Black and white were the next most popular colors in all markets. In North America, red was third and blue fourth, followed by "naturals" (browns, oranges and yellows), with green bringing up the rear at 4 percent.

It wasn't that long ago, 1994 to be exact, that green was the No. 1 color in North America at 21 percent, PPG's announcement said.

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Filed under: Business • U.S. • World
soundoff (21 Responses)
  1. not surprised

    All one has to do is look at the automaker commercials and print ads. For the past several years, the vast majority feature silver cars. Maybe they tend to be more photogenic or appear "modern", but it seems to me that is auto industry marketing at its best.

    October 6, 2010 at 8:19 am | Report abuse |
  2. free2comment

    I don't remember driving around in a sea of green cars in 1994 (21%); someone is lying...

    October 6, 2010 at 2:12 pm | Report abuse |
  3. T-2000

    free2comment I was thinking the same thing! Whoever wrote this they probably were messing with that green stuff! (:

    October 6, 2010 at 3:24 pm | Report abuse |
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