Color study shows the graying of America’s cars
America’s cars are going gray — and not just because they’re getting older.
The latest study of car colors from iSeeCars shows gray rising in popularity, passing silver for third in market share behind perennial favorites white and black.
According to the study, which analyzed more than 10 million 1- to 5-year-old used cars sold in 2018 and 2023, gray has gained four percentage points in those five years, rising from 15.2% of the market to 19.2%.
iSeeCars said silver had been third “for much of the past two decades” before gray edged past it by 0.1% in 2018. Since then, though, silver has fallen to 11.7% while gray continues to race toward the top.
At the top of the list, white, at 26.2%, has overtaken black (21.8%) for the No. 1 spot. Five years earlier, black had led by 0.3%.
Those four colors continue to dominate the U.S. auto market, representing 78.9% of vehicles – up from 77.2% in 2018.
“Spend any time driving American roads and there’s no denying the prevalence of those four grayscale tones,” iSeeCars executive analyst Karl Brauer said in an analysis. “But the past five years could be dubbed ‘The Rise of Gray.’ ”
The research showed blue (9.7%) is the most popular non-grayscale color, passing red (8.2%) since 2018.
The study also looked at vehicle pricing in terms of color.
While used-car prices overall have risen 50.4% since 2018, according to iSeeCars, the price of beige cars has more than doubled, up a stunning 103.3% to an average of $38,001.
As in 2018, yellow cars are the most expensive at $49,043 for an average used car, but that’s more than 85% more expensive than five years previously.
To see the full study, visit iseecars.com/most-popular-car-colors-study.