- Grey remains Britain’s most popular car colour for eighth consecutive year, as turquoise languishes bottom with just 12 units registered.
- Blue holds third place for second year, while silver appears in top five for first time in a decade.
- Green cars see strongest growth in top 10, up 46.3% to claim highest volume for 20 years.
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Car colour data 2025
Britain’s car buyers have crowned grey the nation’s favourite car colour for the eighth year running, according to the latest figures published today by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). More than half a million grey new cars (558,050) were registered last year – up 2.7% to a record total for the shade – accounting for more than a quarter (27.6%) of all new car registrations.
Black retained second place with 464,369 new registrations – its highest volume since 2019 – after a robust 9.7% increase on last year. Blue came in at number three for the second time, confirming its status as the nation’s top non-monochrome choice, with 306,349 registrations (up 4.9%). Together, the top three accounted for nearly two thirds (65.8%) of all new cars joining UK roads in 2025.
Elsewhere in the charts, white retained fourth place, but silver returned to the top five for the first time in nearly a decade,1 marking a notable comeback for a colour that previously dominated Britain’s roads in the early 2000s. Red, once a mainstay of the British car parc, slipped to sixth with the lowest market share (5.8%) since detailed records began.2
2025 also marked a standout year for green, reflected in both colour preference and powertrain given the shift towards electrification. The colour retained seventh place, but volumes rose 46.3% to 99,793 registrations – the most since 2004.3 Appropriately, registrations of green-tinted battery electric (BEV) cars almost doubled – up 95.2% on 2024 to reach 23,249 units – accounting for one in 20 new BEVs, compared with just one in 300 last year.4 Grey remained the top choice among BEV buyers, however, with 131,984 joining the road.
At the bottom of the popularity palette, maroon, pink and turquoise counted just 342 registrations between them, highlighting Britain’s enduring preference for more understated tones.
Mike Hawes, SMMT Chief Executive
UK car buyers’ preferences remain pretty consistent, with monochrome continuing to lead in popularity. The surge in green, however, matches the growing popularity of electrified cars as the new car market decarbonises. As ever, manufacturers are responding by expanding model ranges, colours and finishes, giving UK drivers more opportunities to personalise their vehicles – even if grey matters most.
10 car colour facts:
- In 2025, the nation’s least favourite car colour was turquoise. With volumes falling -96.7%, just 12 were added to UK roads last year.
- As Wicked: For Good finally hit cinema screens, green saw the strongest growth inside the top 10 (up 46.3%).
- Yellow also added a splash of vibrancy to the top 10. With 10,725 units registered, the colour held eighth position, although volumes declined for the first time since 2019.
- Black turned up the volume in 2025, rising by 41,009 units – the largest gain of any colour in 2025 and its largest volume since 2019. Registrations of less popular colours recorded gains too, with cream cars surging 741.6% to 3,215 and brown rising by 66.3% to 4,027 units.
- Inside the top 10, only white, red, yellow and orange saw uptake levels fall, down -9.0%, -14.5%, -10.2% and -10.6% respectively.
- While grey came top for most car segments, buyers of executive cars and luxury saloons preferred black, while blue dominated the mini segment.
- Grey was also the most popular colour across the majority of powertrains – except for plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), which were most commonly specced in black.
- White cars saw the steepest volume fall of the year, down 26,166 units (-9.0%) to 265,462.
- However, white remained the archetypal choice for van buyers, adorning 60.2% of new working vehicles, followed by grey and black. Just one maroon van was registered.5
- Berkshire was home to more green registrations than anywhere else in the UK, with 6,308. The county also remained the ultimate hotspot for yellow car spotters with 667 registrations.
Notes to editors
- Silver registered cars, 2017: 254,191 units
- Detailed car colour records began from 2001 onwards
- Green registered cars, 2004: 118,633 units
- Green registered battery electric car sales, 2024: 11,911 units
- Full-year 2025 registration data for all vans weighing up to 3.5 tonnes
