ROLLE, Switzerland – Black has ranked as the most popular vehicle color in Europe and white has ranked as the most popular vehicle color in the world according to data from PPG Industries.

In Europe, black is the most popular color (26 percent), followed by white (19 percent), silver (16 percent), gray (15 percent), blue (9 percent), red (7 percent), naturals (5 percent), green (2 percent) and other/niche colors (1 percent). Globally, approximately 21 percent of 2011 model-year cars around the world have been white, and silver and black tied for second most popular at 20 percent.

“We are seeing a continuing trend for white moving to special-effect white colors in future automotive palettes,” said Reiner Mueller-Koerber, PPG Color Styling Manager, Europe. “Tones of brown that started in the premium individual segments are now cascading down to smaller models. New violets and gold tones will influence and appear in new model and color programs.”

In North America, white was first (20 percent), followed by silver (19 percent), black (18 percent) and gray (15 percent). Red and blue were tied for fifth (9 percent), followed by naturals such as browns, tans, golds, oranges and yellows (7 percent), green (2 percent), and other/niche colors (1 percent).

In the Asia-Pacific region, silver is the most popular color (25 percent), followed by white (23 percent), black (17 percent), gray (8 percent), red (10 percent), blue (7 percent), naturals (7 percent), green (2 percent) and other/niche colors (1 percent).

At this year’s annual Automotive Color Trend Show, PPG presented its ideas for future vehicle colors. Titled “Expression”, the show highlights the influences of insights from PPG’s other color- and coatings-oriented businesses. PPG’s global automotive OEM coatings business works closely with the company’s other businesses to gain insights related to coloring a range of projects such as cell phones, laptop computers, large appliances, homes, buildings, airplanes, ships and heavy equipment. As such, the company has unique expertise in color trends.

PPG presented automotive designers with 70 new exterior shades for consideration in their designs of the 2014-2015 model years. These included colors such as Goldeluxe, a silver with an influence of a gold; White Nougat, a soft creamy white with a highlight sparkle; Muddy Waters, a tone of brown with a pearl luster effect; Grape Spritz, a blue fused with a purple highlight; and Pot O’Gold, a light green with a hint of gold.