Henry Ford started a whole debate over car colour when he was allegedly quoted as saying in the 1920s: “Any customer can have a car painted any colour that he wants so long as it is black”. In current times, colour apparently influences around 85% of the decisions consumers make.

White is the colour for launching new models
Car designers over the last few years have decided that white is the colour of choice when launching new car models. Their feeling is that it enhances body lines and picks up the light. It could also be that drivers of white cars, from a psychological aspect, often have strong attention to detail and are possibly perfectionists – strangely that sounds like a car designer!

With this trend, the launch cars are white, those cars are then photographed, they end up in the sales brochures and the consumer (we) then think ‘I like that car in white’ and order a white car.

Last year white cars made up 21.4% of new UK registrations, closely followed by black (19.4%), grey (15.6%), blue (14.7%), red (12.1%) and silver (11.2%). These are pretty predictable statistics when you look at the cars on our roads, and we British do tend to be a little on the conservative side.

However, with the fact we are buying smaller cars – to be kind to both the environment and our pockets – a buck in the trend is starting to show through. For private buyers, the little Ford Fiesta is still king, followed by the Vauxhall Corsa (also a top choice for business buyers), and retro look cars like the Mini are also in the top five for private buyers.

Fun is on the agenda
The rise of the Supermini (Corsa, Fiesta, Mini and Fiat 500 etc.) means fun is on the agenda. The car advertisements have funky graphics, big colours, sunflowers and a retro feel. Add this to a fun driving experience and suddenly the usually reserved British buyer is thinking “let’s get a bit wild”.

Vibrant colours such as orange (looks great on a Mini) and mauve (a colour often linked with people who have a creative nature) have started to creep heavily into the table of top car colours being ordered in the UK. The British green is seeing a comeback, while brown is on a huge downward move (-23.3%) – it is a very 1970s colour, which was due an airing again, but seems to have failed. I remember my dad had a bronze Ford Cortina when we were children and that looked the bee’s knees at the time.

I predict yellow will increase in popularity during 2016
My prediction is that yellow will start to feature in the rank of popular colours for 2016. Ford released their new Mustang in a fantastic shade of yellow and some of the Superminis, such as the Fiat 500, really suit a bright sunshine or funky pastel shade. In fact, owners of yellow cars are often seen as upbeat, intelligent and young at heart, which seems to perfectly fit the beliefs of the time we currently live in.