The popularity of red as a colour choice for cars is plunging, with predictions that the colour option could be a thing of the past by 2037, according to AA Cars.
The popularity of red as a colour choice for new cars is plunging, with predictions that the colour option could be a thing of the past by 2037, according to AA Cars.
A quarter of cars on the road (26%) were red in 1997, with the proportion of new red cars sold falling to 13% in 2014 and plunging to 7.5% in the most recent Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) data.
Grey cars have soared in popularity over the same period, almost doubling from 14% of vehicles to 27% between 2014 and 2023.
White and silver cars are also declining, with white falling from 22% of vehicles to 17%, and silver dropping from 13% to 7%.
Buyers of used cars prefer black, however, with the darkest shade making up 27% of searches for vehicles on the AA Cars site. White came second on 23%, while grey was third at 18%
Searches for used red cars are holding steady at 6%, suggesting the popularity of red cars in the used market is even lower than for new vehicles.
James Hosking, director of AA Cars, said: “Drivers of a certain age will fondly remember a time when nearly every other car on the road seemed to be red, but those days are long past.
“The rising popularity of monochrome and grey cars has the potential to make our roads far less colourful.
“Tastes can change, and there’s still a significant number of people searching for red cars on the AA Cars site, so we’re hopeful that a wave of nostalgia could save red cars from going the way of turquoise or maroon.”