So a white Lamborghini pulls up at the red carpet.
Everyone turns to behold her! While everyone is busy checking her out; the real beauty behind the wheel steps out with one foot, then the other. Damn! That’s a lovely white Gucci sneaker.
Could this be a goddess?
You can’t help but notice the all-on-white Versace dress, and the Steiff Louis Vuitton Teddy Bear she’s holding on her arms! She’s definitely a goddess; there’s no doubt she uses a White iPhone, or a white MacBook too.
… That’s no doubt one way to make a luxurious entrance. But snap out of it! Stop wondering why the Steiff Louis Vuitton Teddy Bear is worth $2.1 million.
What’s with the white color that makes it stand out? When you’re driving on the road the most common car colors you’ll see are various tints of black, silver, grey, or white.
White is currently one of the most popular colors for automotive models. Almost every car on the market nowadays comes with the choice of a white exterior paint option.
But why is it so?
Myths and Fact: Why is white a good car color?
Apart from being so fresh and clean, there are quite a couple of myths and facts surrounding white color as a car preference. Here’re some reasons why white tops the list as the hottest color for cars made by the most reliable car brands
White shows your personality
It is believed that a white car color tells on your personality (at least to a point).
Although you shouldn’t judge a car owner by his car color, people with white color cars are seen as clean, trustworthy, and, calm.
White is Luxury
Some people believe that a white car is a celebrities’ befitting color.
While this is arguable, there seems to be some evidence of truth in it. A perfect example of how white paint can be exciting is if you look at the color palette of luxury cars, most especially the trending electric vehicles.
White color lasts longer
The advantage of white paint is that even if the color fades over time, it will not make a significant impact – scratches stand out less on white paint.
Although there are exceptions, white paint is frequently given by manufacturers as a “flat” color at no additional cost. Because it lacks metallic flakes and isn’t pearlescent, it’s easier for a body shop to match and blend when performing a repair than more flashy hues.
Good resale value
White cars, if well maintained, are thought to have a higher resale value. If you look at the used automobile market, it may appear to be true in some sense. The majority of the higher-spec white cars are preserved with only a 10%-20% reduction in the original pricing.
Visibility
White automobiles are undeniably loud. People also believe that if they acquire a black or dark-colored car, it will not be visible at night. It may sound absurd, but it is a fact.
White works effectively because it may be utilized to produce the most aesthetically pleasing contrast between the car’s main body and smaller components such as the wheels, grill, or windows.
White color does good in hot weather
This is a fact! Black absorbs heat, white doesn’t. If you live in a part of the world with hot weather then white could be the most popular color.
Smart choice by car dealers
A lot of cars we buy are ordered by a car dealer, not private consumers. Picking a unique color for a car makes it more difficult to sell. As a result, the dealer, for the most part, chooses the safe way and orders the vehicle in neutral.
White is an Award-winning color
For the tenth time in a row, white has bagged the award as the most popular car color (non-color, if you wish to get specific)
According to the 68th Global Automotive Color Popularity Report, regardless of whatever disruptive styles were visible among carmakers in 2020, consumers’ preferences for white and black remained consistent.
White cars take up 38 percent of the market, followed by black (19%) and gray (15%). Silver has seen a decrease in popularity. Blue and red also made the top 10, at 7 and 5 percent respectively. The only risks taken at a global level this year, in terms of car colors, were brown/beige (3%) and yellow/gold (2%).
White cars account for 38% of the market, followed by black (19%) and gray (15%). The popularity of silver has dwindled. Blue and red were also in the top ten, with 7% and 5%, respectively.
Let’s blame the Apple Effect?
While we all know that white is the most difficult automotive color to keep clean, it does have its advantages. It doesn’t absorb heat like dark colors and according to a 2007 study, it is safer in daylight, dusk, and dawn.
White has rapidly surpassed silver for the title in the last few years. Silver had been the most popular color for over a decade. Approximately 36% of new automobiles were silver ten years ago.
According to Edmunds.com’s Jessica Caldwell, car colors follow the current technological trends – the “Apple effect,” which may be to blame for white’s present domination in the vehicle sector.
With the release of the iMac G3 in 1998 around the turn of the century, vibrant colors became popular. Stainless steel and aluminum appliances and electronics (particularly redesigned flat-screen iMacs) were all the rage in the 2000s. “Apple has popularized white as a result of the iPhone.”
This is in line with what psychologists have to say about whites’ attractiveness. Like the Apple brand, the choice conjures a new, young, minimalist, and modern image with taste, elegance, and honesty. It is, nevertheless, linked to high-maintenance personalities.
Fact:
The Ford Model T, one of the first cars in the world to enter mass production, was only available in one color: black.
White hasn’t always been a choice among manufacturers. In fact, decades ago, there were more cars painted in other colors.
Let’s look back at history and see how the twist all started, despite major breakthroughs in paint technology that have allowed cars to be painted in more unusual colors, Why are white automobiles so popular?
A memorable throwback
When the automobile industry was still in its infancy, vehicle paints were extremely fragile in the early 1900s.
Henry Ford was even quoted saying, “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants, so long as it is black.” In order to speed up production to meet the demand of a growing middle class, the black color was chosen because of its quick-drying properties.
However, at some point during the Model T’s production when paint methods evolved, different colors became available.
According to a video by Donut Media, people’s color preferences are influenced by economic conditions.
Why is White the most popular car color?
A video by Donut Media says that economic conditions play a role in people’s color preferences. Black cars became popular in the early days because of World War 1 and people didn’t want to show off.
After the war, with the innovation of pyroxylin by Du Point, paints became more durable and dried even faster. This resulted in the rise of more unusual car colors until the 1929 stock market crash, after which achromatic colors became more fashionable.
Monochromatic colors reached their height in the car industry between 1950 and 1970, just after WWII. Because it was a prosperous era, Americans had the financial wherewithal to flaunt their wealth and purchase the most up-to-date automobiles.
However, following this period, the oil crisis of the 1970s and the Vietnam War made beige and brown colors increasingly fashionable. As the American economy improved in the 1990s, bright colors became fashionable once more.
The 2000s were marked by automakers’ desire to show that they were progressing toward a more modern era of sleek machines. As such Silver and White became fashionable.
By this time, the majority of the concept cars we see at auto shows are painted in a sleek shade of silver, which appeared futuristic and trendy at the time. Following that, firms such as Apple launched products such as the Mac and the iPod, which were frequently featured in a pure white color scheme.
Car manufacturers began to produce more silver and white cars in order to replicate this modern or high-tech style. In an era when these conservative colors denoted modernity, the majority of new electric automobiles are currently advertised in white or silver.
