Culture Car News Americans Love Nondescript White Cars
Posted by admin on Monday Dec 29, 2008 Under Culture Car News
Culture Car News
We’re a pretty unimaginative bunch, apparently.
Kicking Tires reports, “According to the 2008 DuPont Global Color Popularity Report, White and White Pearl are America’s choice for favorite car color, with 16% and 4% of the market share, respectively. This is the second year white has come out on top.” Black and Silver tied for second in the survey.
Jalopnik sees a simple explanation for the trend. “What cars are standard white? The cheapest. Go to any car dealership and in addition to the premium trim levels you’ll typically find a row of white base models. Go to a Ford dealership and, in the back, will likely be a dozen white F-150s with plastic bumpers and V6 engines.”
Autoblog, however, thinks a change may be coming. “Not to worry though, as DuPont suggests that White winning two years in a row suggests a ‘palette cleansing’ that may precede a new color trend, one that is hopefully a little more exciting than the monochromatic machines we favor today.”
In a press release, Dupont speculates on one emerging trend: environmentalists are moving from green to blue. “Blue is being utilized as the ‘new green’ because it is well understood by people all over the world that blue can also represent the preservation of nature,” said Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Color Institute and author of Color: Messages and Meanings. “Imagine a clear blue sky mirrored in a pristine blue lake and you will get the picture. It is a universal favorite.”
We wonder, though, what all this means about the American psyche. Sedate blue and green cars, we’ve been told in other studies, tend to belong to secure drivers. The most insecure drive bright hues like red and yellow. White is - we have no idea. Scared that the economy is crashing and an endless stream of government bailouts may not be enough to fix it so for now you just bought the cheapest thing you could?
Doubting yourself over that bright red car? Research the best cars in every class, and find a nice green replacement, with U.S. News car rankings and reviews.
