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The world's most popular car color? It's...

For the third year in a row, white is the most popular color for new cars worldwide, according to a leading vehicle paint company. Black and silver tied for second place. 

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Carlos Osorio/AP/File
Jane Harrington, PPG's manager of automotive color styling shows off the company's color palette in Troy, Mich., Tuesday, Oct. 22, 2013.
  • By Stephen Edelstein Guest blogger

The world's car buyers aren't very original. According to vehicle paint giant PPG Industries, white is still the most popular color for new cars worldwide. The company's data shows that 25 percent of new cars are painted white; black and silver tied for second place with 18 percent each.

White claimed the top spot for the third year in a row. It ended silver's decade-long streak as the most popular car color in 2011. The figures are based on PPG's automotive production data, which includes vehicles sold to fleets. That might partially explain white's continued dominance.

The data is also broken down by geographic region. In North America, white still took the lead with 21 percent, followed by black (19 percent), gray (17 percent) and silver (15 percent). White is also a color that's available across all vehicle segments, although other paint colors are more popular in some of them.

In North America, PPG found that sports models tend to be red or blue. That fits the stereotype perfectly and, coincidentally, Ford recently found that red has been themost popular color for the Mustang over that car's 50-year lifespan. Also matching a stereotype are minivans, which are more likely to be gold or beige than other vehicles, according to PPG.

It should be noted that each color encompasses many different shades and finishes. Even basic colors like white can produce seemingly limitless variation.

Going forward, PPG excepts more buyers to opt for blue, based on that color's 50-percent increase in popularity in sport models between 2011 and 2013.

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