A new study shows that men and women have very different preferences when it comes to picking out a colour for their new car. The number-one choice for men? Yellow. Women, conversely, prefer teal.
The 2016 Car Color Preferences by Gender Study reveals that the top three colours favored by men are yellow (33.9 percent), orange (32.6 percent) and black (14.2 percent). The women’s top three choices are teal (19 percent), gold (14.5 percent), and silver (9.7). While men are increasingly choosing yellow and orange vehicles, their preference for red has dropped.
Phong Ly, CEO of iSeeCars.com, explained, “Men and women don’t just like different colours. Our research shows men’s preferences are much stronger than women’s, and the top colour choices for both of them have actually grown to the highest percentages we’ve seen in four years.”
Men are also much more interested in pickup trucks than women—their preference for this body style is over 200 percent higher than it is for the opposite sex. Men also like convertibles and coupes, while women are more interested in SUVs and minivans. There’s also a correlation between body style and color, noted Ly. Pickup trucks and sports cars have a high percentage of brown and yellow/orange options, while SUVs and minivans contain more teal and gold cars than other body styles do.
In other words, men like “sporty and flashy” vehicles, while women would rather own a practical mode of transportation. In 2016, 13.9 percent of all yellow cars were convertibles, which made up 1.9 percent of all cars. Only 3.7 percent of cars on the market were minivans; however, 7.8 percent of all teal cars were minivans.
A male or female’s car choice—sporty vs. reasonable—also affects the bottom line. Used sports cars, painted the colours men prefer, typically cost around $18,196. Used cars in colours that women like cost around $14,938.
Ly explained, “If you compare prices for pre-owned cars, the average price for men’s favorite colours is 22 percent more expensive than women’s favorite colours. That number jumps to 86 percent when you look at the first-ranked colours: yellow and teal.”
Research like this can benefit car manufacturers, who can market colour choices based on what men and women like. iSeeCars.com came to its conclusions by examining 700,000 consumer inquiries and 30 million car sales.
