Oct. 10, 2012 — PPG Industries released its annual automotive color popularity and trend data Tuesday. While white retained the leading spot as the most popular car color based on 2012 automotive build data, PPG forecasts that the overall use of color is on the rise.

According to PPG’s annual survey of global color popularity, white ranked first (22 percent) and silver was second (20 percent), followed by black (19 percent), gray (12 percent), red (9 percent), natural (8 percent), blue (7 percent), green (2 percent) and other colors (1 percent).

“Color is one of the first characteristics noticed in product design, and it is increasingly being used in everyday items, from cell phones to large appliances, based largely on automotive trends,” Jane E. Harrington, PPG manager, color styling, automotive OEM coatings said in a press release. “The palette being developed for the automotive segment continues to be influenced by culture, nature, fashion, interior design, color popularity and new pigment technology.”

Also, PPG recently presented 64 new exterior shades to automotive designers for consideration in designs of the 2015-2016 model years. These included colors such as Al Fresco, a silver metallic with fresh green tint; Victoria Grey, a classic grey with an iridescent highlight of gold metal; Opulence, a refined red pearl with intense jewel tone; Glacier, an icy graphite grey with a slight violet blue tone; Sunshine, a bright high-sparkle intense yellow; and Elixir, a metallic mixture of silver and magenta.

“Our consumer research has clearly shown that color is critically important to car buyers,” Harrington said.