We investigate the history, psychology and safety of different car colours in New Zealand and around the world.
What is the best colour for a car?
Our relationship with car colours pretty much began from day one, when Henry Ford famously said of his first production Model T, “the customer can have a car painted any colour he wants, so long as it is black.”
That wasn’t entirely true – ‘the car was only offered in black from 1914-1925, however before and after that various models of the vehicle could be purchased in a variety of colours including blue, red, grey, and green,’ according to the Ford website.
Officially, the reason the first mass produced Model T’s came in black was because different colours would have compromised production line efficiency and costs.
The classic Model T Ford. In black, obviously.
What car colours are available today?
Clearly though our appetite for car colour customisation hasn’t diminished and more than one century later, we’re spoilt for choice. Today, there are an estimated 80,000 available automotive paint colours in four different finishes; solid, metallic, matte and pearlescent (the sparkly one).
The majority of modern car paints are an acrylic polyurethane “enamel” with a pigmented base coat and a clear topcoat. R&D runs into the millions each year as the major car companies seek to create more environmentally-friendly paint products aimed at reducing carbon emissions and improving fuel economy.
What are the classic car colours?
“Classic” colours have their origins in motorsport. The use of Ferrari’s Rosso Corsa and British Racing Green for example were formally established by the Association Internationale des Automobile Clubs Reconnus (today’s FIA). Competing nations in inter-war year events were given a colour; white for Germany, blue for France, green for Great Britain and red for Italy.
Off the track and on the road our obsession with vehicle colour is brush stroked in personal preference, nostalgia, basic science and financial considerations.
Ferrari is synonymous with red.
What is the most popular car colour?
New Zealand road users tend to follow the trends of the rest of the world. In the USA, greyscale colours represent 78.5% of all vehicles on the road, with white being the most popular.
There’s an obvious and practical reason why there are more black, silver, white and grey cars than reds, greens and yellows. And while you’ll never misplace your vehicle in an airport carpark with the latter, colour undoubtedly affects holding value and resale price in a country that retains its vehicles longer than the global average.
Blue cars make popular purchases – the colour is associated with freedom, inspiration and trust. Red cars also feature in the top ten most common car colours in Aotearoa, but what about the myth around red paint and our harsh UV light?
It’s no myth. Red paint fades faster because it absorbs blue light, which sits at a shorter wavelength of the light spectrum and therefore has the most energy to cause damage.
Meanwhile, a 2011 study by the Berkeley Lab Environmental Energy Technologies Division in California showed that cars painted in dark colours, like red, black and grey do indeed absorb more sunlight than others. This makes the inside warmer, causing drivers to run their air conditioners for longer, losing fuel economy and increasing greenhouse gases and pollutants as a result.
What is the safest car colour?
Various global studies indicate that black is the most “dangerous” car colour in terms of having an accident, followed by grey and silver. A study conducted by Monash University in Melbourne in 2010 found that black cars were up to 47% more likely to be involved in accidents.
There’s less science involved here. Poor visibility at night is one obvious reason and greyscale cars tend to blend into the landscape. Correspondingly, white cars are classified as the safest, because they are easy to see.
So while that bright orange or yellow car in the supermarket car park may well be not-so-easy on the eye, there could be a very sensible and practical decision behind the owner’s colour choice.
According to six-month statistics from New Zealand Police in 2020 the most commonly stolen cars by colour are silver, followed by white and black. Again, the sheer frequency of these colours on our roads explains the trend.
What will the future of car colours look like?
What are the future trends for car colours?
The concept BMW E Ink made its debut at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in 2022, where ‘The body is laminated with an electrophoretic film containing microcapsules the diameter of a human hair. Each capsule contains differently charged white, black or coloured particles which become visible when an electric field is applied.’ (BMW.com)
Basically, it means that at any time you can choose and switch to the colour you want, depending on your personal preference, mood, road and weather conditions. Still at the research and design stage, it’s the next step in car colour technology. The idea of changing your car colour mid-journey? Clearly something to look out for in the future.
Story by Ben Whittacker-Cook for the Winter 2023 issue of AA Directions magazine.
Explore more from AA Directions magazine while you're here:
- AA research reveals the safety benefits of new roads
- An interview with Danusia Wypych – CEO of ChargeNet
- Meet 20-year-old Ella Ward, a successful artist in Ōtautahi Christchurch
