Favorite car color: Find out what replaced silver in 2013
| TROY, Mich.
After more than a decade as the world's聽favorite聽car聽color, silver is falling in popularity to white. PPG Industries, the leading supplier of automotive paints, says 25 percent of the vehicles it supplied in the 2013 model year were white, up 3 percent from the prior year. Silver and black tied for second, with 18 percent each.
White dominates in Europe, North America and Asia. Only in South America is silver still king.
Apple Inc., with its all-white stores and gadgets, made white a high-tech聽color. The variety of whites 鈥� from flat shades to creamy pearls 鈥� is also contributing, says Jane Harrington, PPG's manager of automotive聽colorstyling.
But if you don't relish a whiteout on the freeway, never fear. Automakers are currently scouting聽colors聽for the 2016 and 2017 model years, and Harrington is showing them some eye-popping options, from a pink-tinged bright red developed in Asia to a rich dark gray with faint green highlights.
Eleven different browns 鈥� from light copper to dark chocolate 鈥� and an equal number of grays are part of PPG's annual聽color聽show for automakers at its automotive center in the Detroit suburb of Troy. There are six yellows and seven greens, from seafoam to dark olive. One notable absence: Powder blue, which is increasingly confined to electric聽cars聽or hybrids.
Harrington and her international team determine聽color聽trends by watching fashion, architectural paint聽colorsand other predictors. She thinks we'll see more deep jewel tones like teal and more earthy metallics, like reddish orange, in the coming years. With the end of the recession, drivers don't mind being showy again, she says
Car聽buyers could also see taxi-like yellows and other flat, bright聽colors, which are growing in popularity thanks to small, funky entries like the Kia Soul.
Pastel tones, like mint green and very light pink, are also in the mix.
PPG will take its聽color聽tour on the road to Los Angeles, Europe and Asia and will then start working with individual automakers on their choices. Companies typically choose eight to 10聽colors聽for every model. PPG won't say how many聽cars聽it supplies paint for each year, but it works with every major聽car聽company.
"They think about the vehicle and how that聽color聽will translate," Harrington said. "That聽color, sparkle and finish helps define the聽car's聽character."
