It's all a bit grey, with black, silver favourites

Porsche Panamera. Photo / Supplied

A visiting alien would think humans a conservative race - the most popular car paint colours in our rainbow world are silver, black and white.

The DuPont Global Colour Popularity Report concludes a quarter of the world's 2009 cars came out in silver, 23 per cent in black, 16 per cent white - and 13 per cent grey.

Best of the rest was blue, on nine per cent. The top three colours are favourites worldwide, but individual markets show their own trends. White is still popular in the US, but blue and red sell above the global average. Black is back in Europe - where white took just 10.2 per cent of the market.

Japan, China and Korea all preferred subdued colours, but Russia put green in second, with 18.2 per cent of sales.

Vehicle manufacturers must forecast colour trends three or more years ahead, and new paint technologies make a difference. White gained popularity with the introduction of affordable pearl finishes to lift the formerly flat colour, while metallic accents have also seen a resurgence for variations of brown.

As for NZ, Nissan says it can get brightly coloured cars from Europe, but half its sales are in black or silver. Small cars tend to brighter colours, but most buyers choose a hue that will hold its value - hence the continuing popularity of silver.

In 2009, 27.8 per cent of NZ new passenger cars and SUVs sold were silver, and 15.2 per cent black. But we bucked the world trend with blue our third-placed colour on 14.6 per cent - similar figures to last year. Least popular? Pink, with just 34 of the over 54,244 total.

Brands report different preferences. Holden says that more red cars sell than black. Suzuki sells more red or blue Swifts than silver, and Mazda also logged more sales of red, blue and green. Pricier buys tend to more conservative colours - Merc sells 20 silver cars to each blue or red, though sporting models tend to be brighter - VW says GTI buyers prefer red, with blue for R-cars. Alfa Romeo and Ferrari buyers go for red too - but Lambo owners like yellow.

Want something different? Ask.

Companies will buy in only the most popular hues, but even mainstream brands can get something a little different if you're prepared to place a firm order - and take a hit come resale time.