Shades of grey in days of darkness

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The dark days before Christmas are here and, boy, is it gloomy and grey. That brings us to the topic of current-day car colours. Last year grey was named as the UK’s most popular new car colour for the fourth consecutive year, followed by black and white, or so the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders announced. No less then 62.4% of all new cars sold in 2021 were painted in one of these monochrome shades.

The American Coatings Organisation even noted that ‘the four neutral shades’ (white, black, grey and silver) were good for even 81% of vehicles produced worldwide. Adding: “Car buyers around the world prefer neutral colours by a large margin and have done so for many years. That trend is expected to persist for the next several years as well, although colours should make a small comeback.” As yet there’s no sign of that here.

There’s no doubt that things were more colourful in the 1960s when pale blue and pastel green may have been favourites, and bright orange and lime green were classic hues of the 1970s. The picture seen here dates back to those days. It’s from 1967 and is a film still from the beautifully made (if not immediately successful) Jacques Tati film Playtime. A row of Simca 1500s and their matching owners symbolise the loss of the individual in modern society - what this film is much about. In that sense, Tati was an excellent forecaster of the future. We wish you a colourful Christmas!

Words by Jeroen Booij, picture by Specta Films

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