Ingersheim, Germany - Silver ranked as the most popular vehicle colour for the sixth consecutive year in Europe, according to the annual global colour popularity survey conducted by PPG Industries, the world's leading manufacturer of transportation coatings.

Silver topped all other colours among European vehicles produced in 2004 with 35.4 percent, up from 33.6 percent in 2003. Silver also led global colour popularity with 38 percent for the 2004 model year.

"As silver maintains its leading presence in Europe and around the globe, we continue to explore the development of new effects and technologies that can be used to create unique shades and textures," said Reiner Mueller-Koerber, manager, European styling for PPG automotive coatings. "Due to its high-tech appearance and its unique ability to highlight a vehicle's design, silver has the potential to remain No. 1 for years to come."

Research conducted by PPG in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom reveals that for the 2004 model year, blue was Europe's second most popular colour with 16.1 percent of vehicles produced, followed by black at 12.5 percent and white at 11 percent. The naturals colour family -- which includes gold, copper, champagne and lighter shades of brown and yellow -- was featured on 9.2 percent of vehicles, while red came in at 8.5 percent and green at 7.2 percent.

Globally, white was the second most popular vehicle colour in 2004 with 15.4 percent, followed by black with 13.9 percent, naturals at 9.3 percent, blue with 8.9 percent, red at 6.9 percent, green with 6.3 percent and others just over 1 percent.


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This triggers memories of the earlier silvers and light colored metallics that just seemed to degrade before your eyes. This was in the late 70's and early 80's...nice to see these being durable and a non issue when buying a car. I recall some neighbors who'd purposely stay away from silver cars beacuse they felt it would have to be re-painted years before a solid or darker color.

 

 

I like silver, but I see too many silver cars on the road. I prefer blue, red, or orange copper!!

 

Silver's a great color, although my preferance are dark colors. Since I'm such a freak at keeping my car clean, I love the way it reflects everything off.

 

I agree. Silver......................Popular but boring.

 

The plain brilliant silver paint is boring, & there's too many of them on the road. But I won't mind those with shades of gold, green or blue etc. on them, depending on the kind of car it is on.

 

Saturn did a real nice color called "silver plum" some years ago...it was silver with a very light touch of purple.
The downside to light silvers snd silver metallics with touches of other colors is that they are among the most difficult paint colors to match during repainting or body repair.