Colors You’ll Be Buying in Used Cars

News from the new car world affects us here in the used car universe because it’s what you’re going to buy in the next couple of years as the cars come off lease. White, silver and black are the top colors globally, but various treatments of blue are coming on strong, according to leading auto industry designers and a global team of DuPont color designers.

Here’s something I didn’t know. The emergence of white could indicate a tightening economy, at least in the view of one expert. Economic uncertainty in North America seems to be influencing people to return to basics such as white and red, said Mollie Engel, senior color designer for Kia Design Center America in a release from DuPont, “but they are new versions of these common color spaces.”

Also, according to DuPont, while Engel doesn’t see car buyers moving toward blue, she sees a growing importance of “olive greens” as well as earth tones such as dark grey, bronze and dark browns as “part of this new, classically modern palette.”

Something else she adds about white. “White seems to be the most prominent color on the road and on everyone’s mind in design. It is the new luxury color and it is also ecological. The lighter the colors we use, the less ‘solar gain’ is encouraged, and that means less gas we use to cool our cars,” Engel added.

2007 Kia Sportage - tried to find a white one, but only red was on the Kia website! Photo © Kia