A CAR colour that was once the “most popular” choice among Brit drivers could be wiped off the market in 13 years, an auto expert has revealed.
In 1997, one in four cars sported the fiery shade – but the numbers have dropped steadily.
Sales of red cars have plummeted drastically from 26 per cent to just 13 per cent, according to research done by AA Cars.
The latest data from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) said that red is now picked by just seven and a half per cent of new car owners.
Experts say the share could become a rarity by 2037.
James Hosking, Director of AA Cars, commented: “Drivers of a certain age will fondly remember a time when nearly every other car on the road seemed to be red, but those days are long past. The rising popularity of monochrome and grey cars has the potential to make our roads far less colourful.”
He added: “Without red cars, we would never have enjoyed Postman Pat’s van, the red Mini Coopers from the Italian job and Lightning McQueen from Cars.
“Tastes can change, and there’s still a significant number of people searching for red cars on the AA Cars site, so we’re hopeful that a wave of nostalgia could save red cars from going the way of turquoise or maroon.”
Meanwhile, white and silver cars are also increasingly becoming less popular among new buyers.
White has fallen from 22 per cent to 17 per cent, while silver has gone from 13 per cent to just seven per cent.
However, grey car sales have skyrocketed over the past few years, with sales almost doubling from 14 per cent to 27 per cent between 2014 and 2023.
It has now become the top choice for new car owners, followed by the classic shade of black which is picked by 20 per cent of all the new owners.
In the past five to ten years, one-in-five of all new cars sold in the UK have been grey.
Researchers at Auto Trader have also revealed the number of clicks cars on their website get each year — 2.2 billion in 2023.
Of those, nearly 600 million were for black motors, with grey coming in some way behind in second place with nearly 437 million and white pootling along in third with almost 350 million.
