British car buyers are not the most adventurous when it comes to their choice of car colour, with new analysis from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders revealing the most popular vehicle shades of the year.

According to data published by the SMMT, grey is once again the most popular colour, the fourth year in succession that it has claimed the colour crown, and sadly the 11th year in a row that Brits have chosen a monochrome of either grey, black or white as their favourite tone.

But hope is on the horizon, with shades or green and yellow the two biggest growth colours of the year, however they have some way to go as the grey-black-white trio dominate, taking 62.4% of all new cars sold in 2021.

“2021 was anything but normal, but British drivers stuck to their familiar favourites of grey, black and white cars,” said SMMT Chief Executive, Mike Hawes. “But while last year’s new cars might share the same shades as previous years, under the bonnet there has been a real shift, with one in six buyers choosing to go green.

“With car registrations still low compared to pre- pandemic, helping even more drivers move to greener cars – whatever the actual colour – has never been more important. Incentives are helping move the market and should continue, but the speed of this shift to electric must be matched by an acceleration in the pace of charging infrastructure investment. Drivers should expect to be able to recharge irrespective of wherever they live, work or visit.”

The SMMT data also showed some regional quirks, with blue proving to be popular in Wales and Northern Ireland, coming second, while not one single maroon car was sold in Scotland in 2021. Bedfordshire has the highest number of pink cars (66), while the West Midlands has the highest number of orange cars.

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