Short answer
Early mass-market cars were dark because paint was slow and fragile: the Model T was offered only in black from 1914 to 1925, after earlier years in grey, green, blue and red. Fast-drying lacquers in the 1920s brought colour back, and the industry's own counts, kept since 1953, show silver leading around 2000–2010, white since 2011 and grey rising fastest now. Across the years with global figures, the leader has changed but the market has stayed about four-fifths neutral.
Henry Ford's line comes from his 1922 autobiography, My Life and Work, written with Samuel Crowther. He places it in 1909, when he announced that the company would build only one model, and says he remarked that any customer could have a car painted any colour he wanted so long as it was black. As history it is untidy. Model Ts from 1908 to 1913 were painted in grey, green, blue and red, and around 1912 in a dark midnight blue with black wings; the black-only policy ran from 1914 to 1925. Colours returned after 1925, as sprayed nitrocellulose lacquers, developed by DuPont in the early 1920s, made coloured finishes fast and durable enough for mass production. The quote is best read as a statement about standardisation, remembered after the fact.
It is often said that Ford chose black because black paint dried fastest, which mattered on a moving assembly line. The honest answer is that the reasons are disputed. Contemporary finishes were 'japan' blacks and dark varnishes based on asphalt-like binders such as gilsonite, which were cheap and durable but only available in very dark shades, and carbon black was among the cheapest pigments. Over thirty different black paints were used on different parts of the car, with different drying methods. Some motoring histories repeat the fast-drying explanation; enthusiasts' research into Ford's engineering records says there is no evidence that black dried faster than other dark finishes of the time. Cost, durability and the limits of the binder are better supported than drying speed.
DuPont began its colour popularity report in 1953, and Axalta, which inherited the business in 2013, counts its 2025 report as the 73rd. Early editions were published regionally; the first worldwide ranking is DuPont's for 2009. In North America, silver led in 2002 (23%) and 2003 (20.2%), and DuPont later said silver had led at least one North American segment every year from 1998 until 2012 and peaked worldwide between 2000 and 2006. White took North America from 2007 and the world from 2011, when it tied silver at 22%. Axalta puts white's global peak at 39% in 2017. Since then grey has been the mover: 13% globally in Axalta's 2019 figures, 22% in 2023 when it passed black, and 22–23% in 2024–25.
The leading colour has changed roughly once a decade within the counted period, but always from one neutral to another. The neutral total in the global breakdowns has stayed between about 76% and 84% since 2009, and the main chromatic colours — blue and red — have each held single-digit shares throughout. The global story also hides large regional differences: grey has led Europe since 2019, black has overtaken white in China, and silver remains almost level with white in India. The move from solid to effect finishes is the other big change of the last two decades: most black and about half of white is now metallic, mica or pearl, so today's neutral cars are visually richer than their share figures suggest.
| Year | Report | Leading colour | Share (%) | Runner-up (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | DuPont 2009 report | silver | 25 | black 23 |
| 2010 | DuPont 2010 report | silver | 26 | black 24 |
| 2011 | DuPont 2011 report | white = silver | 22 | black 20 |
| 2012 | DuPont 2012 report | white | 23 | black 21 |
| 2019 | Axalta 2019 report | white | 38 | black 19 |
| 2019 | BASF 2019 report | white | 39 | black 16 |
| 2021 | Axalta 2021 report | white | 35 | black 19 |
| 2021 | BASF 2021 report | white | 37 | black 17 |
| 2022 | Axalta 2022 report | white | 34 | black 21 |
| 2022 | BASF 2022 report | white | 39 | black 18 |
| 2023 | Axalta 2023 report | white | 31 | grey 22 |
| 2024 | Axalta 2024 report | white | 31 | grey 23 |
| 2024 | BASF 2024 report | white | 34 | black 22 |
| 2025 | Axalta 2025 report | white | 29 | black 23 |
| 2025 | BASF 2025 report | white | 33 | black 23 |
| Year | Report | Leading colour | Share (%) | Runner-up (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | DuPont 2002 report | silver | 23 | white 15 |
| 2008 | DuPont 2008 report | white | 20 | black 17 |
| 2009 | DuPont 2009 report | white | 17.8 | black 17 |
| 2010 | DuPont 2010 report | white | 21 | black 18 |
| 2011 | DuPont 2011 report | white | 23 | black 18 |
| 2012 | DuPont 2012 report | white | 24 | black 19 |
| 2019 | BASF 2019 report | white | 29 | black 21 |
| 2021 | BASF 2021 report | white | 32 | black 24 |
| 2023 | Axalta 2023 report | white | 30 | grey 21 |
| 2024 | Axalta 2024 report | white | 33 | grey 20 |
| 2025 | Axalta 2025 report | white | 31 | grey 21 |
Why: The black-only period covers 1914–1925 for one model; other makers and earlier Model Ts used colours.
Fix: Give the dates, and treat the Ford quote as a remark about standardisation rather than a description of the market.
Each statement is labelled by kind — established fact, a standard’s requirement, observed market data, a convention, or Colourwise’s own interpretation or analysis — with the strength of the evidence behind it.
FactModerate evidence
In My Life and Work (1922), Henry Ford recounts announcing in 1909 that the company would build only the Model T, and remarking that any customer could have a car painted any colour he wanted so long as it was black.
Caveat: A retrospective autobiographical account; black-only production did not start until about 1914.
Source: My Life and Work (Henry Ford with Samuel Crowther, 1922)
FactModerate evidence
Model Ts were offered in colours other than black from 1908 to 1913, were painted black only from 1914 to 1925, and more than thirty kinds of black paint were used on different parts of the car.
Caveat: Summarised from a reference work citing enthusiast research; exact dates vary between accounts.
Source: Ford Model T (Colors section)
Colourwise interpretationLimited evidence
The claim that Ford chose black because it dried fastest is contested: some histories repeat it, while others find no evidence that black dried faster than other dark finishes of the time and point to cost and durability instead.
Based on: Comparison of Hagerty's motoring-history account (which repeats the drying explanation) with the Model T reference summary, which cites enthusiast research into Ford records finding no such evidence.
Caveat: Colourwise has not examined Ford's engineering records directly.
Observed market dataModerate evidence· Global and North America· 1998–2012
DuPont's 2012 release said silver peaked between 2000 and 2006 and that 2012 was the first year since 1998 in which silver did not lead any North American vehicle segment.
Measured: New vehicles in DuPont's colour popularity survey.
Caveat: Reported via a trade reproduction of DuPont's release; underlying yearly figures for 2000–2006 were not reachable.
Source: 2012 DuPont Automotive Color Popularity Report: White Stays Atop the World's Car Color Ranks
Observed market dataStrong evidence· Global· 2023
Axalta's 2023 report records grey overtaking black as the world's second most popular car colour, at 22% against 18%.
Measured: Vehicles built in 2023, per Axalta.
Caveat: BASF's figures for nearby years still put black ahead of grey globally.
Source: Global Automotive 2023 Color Popularity Report (71st report)
Reviewed 29 September 2026. Colourwise summarises its sources in its own words and does not reproduce standards text or proprietary colour data. Spotted an error? Tell us.