Grey in the fast lane as green powers up in Britain’s top new car colours

Britain’s car buyers have crowned grey the nation’s favourite car colour for the eighth year running, according to the latest figures published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).

More than half a million grey new cars (558,050) were registered last year – up 2.7 per cent to a record total for the shade – accounting for more than a quarter (27.6 per cent) of all new car registrations.

Black retained second place with 464,369 new registrations – its highest volume since 2019 – after a 9.7 per cent increase on last year.

Blue came in at number three for the second time, confirming its status as the nation’s top non-monochrome choice, with 306,349 registrations (up 4.9 per cent).

Together, the top three accounted for nearly two thirds (65.8 per cent) of all new cars joining UK roads in 2025.

Elsewhere in the charts, white retained fourth place, but silver returned to the top five for the first time in nearly a decade, marking a notable comeback for a colour that previously dominated Britain’s roads in the early 2000s.

Red, once a mainstay of the British car parc, slipped to sixth with the lowest market share (5.8 per cent) since detailed records began.

Last year also marked a standout year for green, reflected in both colour preference and powertrain given the shift towards electrification. The colour retained seventh place, but volumes rose 46.3 per cent to 99,793 registrations – the most since 2004.

Appropriately, registrations of green-tinted battery electric (BEV) cars almost doubled – up 95.2 per cent on 2024 to reach 23,249 units – accounting for one in 20 new BEVs, compared with just one in 300 last year.

Grey remained the top choice among BEV buyers, however, with 131,984 joining the road.

At the bottom of the popularity palette, maroon, pink and turquoise counted just 342 registrations between them.