What were Britain’s top car colours in 2025?

We really don’t do ourselves any favours. We’re already dealing with a world that believes our weather is dreary, and that complaining about it is a national pastime that transcends demographics. No doubt there are millions of people out there who think we form orderly queues just to make sure everyone gets a fair chance to moan about rainy skies. And what do we do to dispel these blatant inaccuracies? We make grey the most popular car colour for the eighth year on the trot…

That’s according to recent figures from the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) looking at new car registrations for last year. As well as revealing the UK’s choices with regards to the type of cars we drive, engine size, ICE (petrol or diesel) or EV (electric), our favourite colours are also hidden away in the data.

And last year, Britain’s car buyers crowned grey the nation’s favourite car colour again. It has been the case for the last eight years, and it continued through 2025 with more than half a million more grey cars (558,050) being registered for the first time. That’s almost a 3% increase year on year and a new record for grey cars, accounting for more than a quarter (27.6%) of all new registrations.

And if you require further evidence that our choice of car colour is some kind of subconscious reflection of our prevailingly cloudy existence, second and third place went to black and blue.

Black retained second place with 464,369 new registrations – its highest volume since 2019 – after a robust 9.7% 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%).

Together, the top three accounted for nearly two thirds (65.8%) of all new cars joining UK roads in 2025. It’s unlikely this is a previously undiscovered psychological phenomenon worthy of a Nobel prize, but it’s interesting that our three favourite colours should appear in the same order of likelihood as the colour of the sky.

Fortunately, much like the weather, there is still the occasional bright spot on the horizon.

Elsewhere in the charts, white retained fourth place, which is largely to be expected given it’s still a default shade for a lot of manufacturers, and many people are perfectly happy to stick with it as standard. Silver also made a return to the chart last year after almost a decade out of favour. Having dominated in the early 2000s it has made a bit of a comeback to re-enter the top five.

What about the colour red for your cars?

Another colour that used to be immensely popular in the UK is red, which has now slipped to sixth place. Red cars used to be everywhere, but it has been on the decline for a while now, with last year revealing its lowest market share (5.8%) on record.

2025 did mark a standout year for green though, reflecting both colour preference and powertrain choices given the shift towards electrification.

In terms of position, green maintained the same seventh place on the chart it had held the previous year. The growth is hidden in the detail though, with the number of green cars rising by more than 46% to 99,793 new registrations, the highest it’s been for over 20 years.

Somewhat appropriately, that green boost was being aided by the other green boost, as new EV registrations of green cars almost doubled. Just over 23,000 new cars were of the green inside and out variety, an increase of 95.2% on 2024. Green accounted for 1 in 20 new EV registrations in 2025, a significant increase on the 1 in 300 the year before.

Although, in keeping with the overall theme, even amongst EV drivers grey remained by far the most popular choice, with a whopping 131,984 of them joining the road.

And in case you were wondering, the chart also highlights the enduring British preference for understatement.

The least popular choices, accounting for just 342 new registrations between them, were maroon, pink and turquoise.

Now, there’s a surprise…

But you can choose whatever you want from our range of excellent leasing deals.