New Delhi: Red, black or blue? If you thought any of these is the most preferred colour for cars in India, you got the wrong answer.
When it comes to cars, white is the most-preferred choice for Indian consumers with 43 per cent 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 per cent of buyers.
Red with 9 per cent was the other popular colour, followed by blue at 7 per cent, while black had just 3 per cent 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 per cent new buyers going for the colour, followed by grey 15 per cent, silver 14 per cent, red 12 per cent and blue 7 per cent.
In the entry-level sub-compact segment, 42 per cent of buyers went for white colour, 17 per cent with grey and 16 per cent for silver. Red was the other popular colour in the segment with 12 per cent.
In the basic compact segment, white was also the most popular colour with 35 per cent of buyers opting for it, followed by grey and silver with 17 per cent each, red 9 per cent and blue 8 per cent, among other colours.
In the compact (premium) segment also, the BASF colour report said white was the most-popular colour with 46 per cent of consumers going for it, followed by silver at 21 per cent and grey at 17 per cent. Interestingly, only 1 per cent preferred black colour.
However, in the mid-sized segment, black was the second-most popular colour with 18 per cent behind white which had preference of 40 per cent buyers.
The other popular colours in the segment were blue at 16 per cent and silver at 13 per cent and brown 5 per cent, 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 per cent.