White Most Popular Colour Amongst Indian Car Buyers in 2018: Study

When it comes to car colours, white is the most preferred choice for many Indian consumers with 43 percent of them opting for the tone in 2018, according to a report by global paints major BASF. According to the 'BASF Color Report for Automotive OEM Coatings' by BASF's Coatings Division, the other two most popular car colours last year were grey and silver with each finding preferences of 15 percent of buyers. Red with 9 percent was the other popular colour, followed by blue at 7 percent, while black had just 3 percent buyers.

"Small cars which are pearl white in colour are popular among Indian consumers. Customers in the warm climate of India may prefer white because white cars do not heat up so quickly," BASF Head of Design (Asia-Pacific) Chiharu Matsuhara said. She further said: "Another reason might be the luxurious image of this colour, as suggested by our trend observations."

White also rules in the sports utility vehicle (SUV) segment, the report said with 41 percent new buyers going for the colour, followed by grey 15 percent, silver 14 percent, red 12 percent and blue 7 percent. In the entry-level sub-compact segment, 42 percent of buyers went for white colour, 17 percent with grey and 16 percent for silver. Red was the other popular colour in the segment with 12 percent.

In the basic compact segment, white was also the most popular colour with 35 percent of buyers opting for it, followed by grey and silver with 17 per0cent each, red 9 percent and blue 8 percent, among other colours.

In the compact (premium) segment also, the BASF colour report said white was the most-popular colour with 46 percent of consumers going for it, followed by silver at 21 percent and grey at 17 percent. Interestingly, only 1 percent preferred black colour.

However, in the mid-sized segment, black was the second-most popular colour with 18 percent behind white which had preference of 40 percent buyers. The other popular colours in the segment were blue at 16 percent and silver at 13 percent and brown 5 percent, among others.

According to auto industry body Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers, passenger vehicle sales in the country stood at 33,94,756 units in 2018 as against 32,30,614 units in 2017, up 5.08 percent.