SAN FRANCISCO — Consumers navigating through the current U.S. economic crisis are keeping it simple when it comes to their new car, choosing a plain white paint job over any other color, according to a DuPont study released Tuesday.
White is the top vehicle color of choice in North America for the second straight year and, with “white effects” that give an iridescent look to help differentiate cars, is among the most popular across the globe, the 2008 DuPont Automotive Color Popularity Report showed.
DuPont says white serves as a “palette-cleansing” pause signaling the end of a long-running trend and the onset of a new one. Silver had held the top spot for seven years before white ended its reign in the 2007 study.
Now, white and white pearl combined to score 20 percent of the North America market, with black and “black effect” at 17 percent and silver just a fraction behind.
While silver was unseated as North America’s top choice in 2007, it’s still the leading color in Asia by a large margin. MarketWatch
