Is colour coming back into cars, homes and products?

Cars: movement at the margins

The supplier reports are the longest record against which a return of colour could be measured, and they show small movements rather than a turn. BASF's 2021 report said more than 27% of new vehicles in EMEA were chromatic, the highest in two decades; by 2024 BASF was reporting EMEA's achromatic share back up to almost 80%. Globally BASF put chromatic colours at a stable 19% in 2023. The notable 2025 signal is green: BASF calls it the strongest-growing chromatic colour worldwide, overtaking red in EMEA, and Axalta reports green and yellow/gold rising in Asia. Blue remains the largest chromatic colour at about 6% globally in both 2025 reports, and up to 10% in North America. These are real but single-point changes on rounded data. National registries, which count rather than estimate, confirm the green signal and qualify it. Green rose from 1.1% to 2.6% of German registrations between 2014 and 2023 while the German neutral share rose as well, because red fell and the colours outside the six published groups shrank from 9.6% to 3.9%.

Products: more colours on offer

Where a maker can add colours cheaply, ranges have grown. LEGO went from five colours in 1958 to more than 110 in 2004, and after a cost-cutting reduction to about 60 in 2007 stood at around 70 in 2022. Crayola went from eight crayons in 1903 to 120 by 1998. This is a counter-trend in availability rather than in use: LEGO's own historian noted that a census of every brick ever made would be dominated by black, grey and white, and a longer crayon box does not change the colour of a kitchen. It does show that choice has widened in exactly the categories where a wrong colour costs little.

Homes and fashion: named trends, no measurements

In interiors, design media named 'dopamine decor' in 2022 for rooms using several saturated colours in blocks, and the label was still current in 2025. In fashion, 'dopamine dressing' preceded it. Both are well documented as labels and styles in the press; neither has share data showing how many homes or wardrobes changed. The same is true of the neutral trend they are said to replace. It is quite possible for a colourful style to dominate magazines while the average home and wardrobe barely move, so these should be treated as signals of taste among designers and early adopters, not as evidence of a change in what most people live with.

How to tell a revival from noise

A real return of colour would show up as a rising chromatic share in more than one reporter's data, in more than one region, for several years in a row. So far the car data shows chromatic shares moving within a few points either way, with gains in one region offset by losses in another. For product categories, look for evidence of what was produced or sold, not what was launched. The paint suppliers' own forecasts and colour-of-the-year selections belong in the trends section: they tell you what designers expect, which is useful, but they are forecasts, not observations. By that test green now qualifies: five series of three different kinds, several countries, rising over several years. The chromatic share as a whole does not. Among the series analysed it is higher at the end than at the start only in the Dutch cohorts.

The data

How to check it yourself

1. Look for the same chromatic gain in both the Axalta and BASF reports before treating it as real.
2. Check whether a 'colour is back' article cites production or sales data, or product launches and trend announcements.
3. Watch the neutral total for a region over three or more editions rather than one colour in one year.

What the evidence says

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.

• Observed market dataStrong evidence· EMEA· 2021

  BASF reported that in 2021 more than 27% of new vehicles produced in EMEA were chromatic, the highest share in two decades.

  Measured: Passenger cars produced in 2021, per BASF.

  Caveat: BASF's later reports show the achromatic share in EMEA rising again.

  Source: BASF Color Report 2021 for Automotive OEM Coatings (press kit)

• Observed market dataStrong evidence· EMEA· 2021–2024

  BASF's 2024 report states that achromatic colours in EMEA rose steadily from 72% in 2021 to almost 80% in 2024.

  Measured: Passenger cars produced, per BASF.

  Caveat: Rounded figures; method not published.

  Source: BASF Color Report 2024 for Automotive OEM Coatings (global press kit)

• Observed market dataModerate evidence· Global and EMEA· 2025

  BASF's 2025 report identifies green as the strongest-growing chromatic car colour worldwide, overtaking red in EMEA.

  Measured: Passenger cars produced in 2025, per BASF.

  Caveat: Green's global share is about 3%; a one-year movement.

  Source: BASF Color Report 2025 for Automotive OEM Coatings

• FactModerate evidence

  Crayola's first box in 1903 held eight colours, and its assortment reached 120 colours in 1998.

  Source: What were the original eight (8) colors in the 1903 box of Crayola Crayons?; History of Crayola crayons

• Colourwise interpretationLimited evidence

  The published data show wider colour availability and small chromatic gains in some car markets, not a general reversal of neutral dominance.

  Based on: Colourwise's reading of the chromatic shares computed on this page and the product-range and design-press evidence.

  Caveat: Two or three more years of car data could change this reading.

• Colourwise analysisStrong evidence

  Among passenger cars on the Dutch register that were new in the Netherlands, green accounts for 0.5% of the 2013 cohort and 7.6% of the 2025 cohort.

  Based on: Colourwise's count of the RDW open register on 6 October 2026: passenger cars whose first admission date equals their first Dutch registration date, by main colour and year of first registration.

  Caveat: Cars still registered in October 2026, so the older cohort has been thinned by scrapping and export; the register does not define its colour groups.

  Source: Open Data RDW: Gekentekende_voertuigen (registered vehicles)

• Observed market dataModerate evidence· United Kingdom· 2025

  SMMT reports green new-car registrations in the United Kingdom rising 46.3% in 2025 to 99,793, the highest volume since 2004, and red falling to a 5.8% share, its lowest since detailed records began in 2001.

  Measured: All new cars registered in 2025.

  Caveat: A trade association release; 2004's green volume was higher still, so this is a recovery within a long decline, in one country.

  Source: Grey in the fast lane as green powers up in Britain's top new car colours

Related questions

Is green becoming a popular car colour?

It is growing from a small base: about 3% globally in BASF's and Axalta's 2025 reports, with BASF calling it the fastest-growing chromatic colour. It is nowhere near the neutrals.

What is dopamine decor?

A name used in design media since 2022 for interiors that combine several bright, saturated colours in bold blocks. It describes a style; there is no data on how widely it has been adopted.

Which car market has the most colourful cars?

In Axalta's 2025 figures Japan, South Korea and North America have the largest chromatic shares, at 21–23% of vehicles built; South America is the most neutral at about 14%.

Related topics

Go further

Sources

• BASF Color Report 2021 for Automotive OEM Coatings (press kit) — BASF Coatings (Industry dataset)
• BASF Color Report 2024 for Automotive OEM Coatings (global press kit) — BASF Coatings (Industry dataset)
• BASF Color Report 2025 for Automotive OEM Coatings — BASF Coatings / Surventis Coatings (Industry dataset)
• What were the original eight (8) colors in the 1903 box of Crayola Crayons? — Crayola (Manufacturer technical documentation)
• History of Crayola crayons — Wikipedia (Reference work)
• Open Data RDW: Gekentekende_voertuigen (registered vehicles) — RDW (Netherlands Vehicle Authority) (Official standard or government)
• Grey in the fast lane as green powers up in Britain's top new car colours — Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) (Industry dataset)
• Silver Gleams in First-Ever DuPont Global Color Rankings for 2009 — The Auto Channel (reproduction of DuPont release dated 1 December 2009) (Reference work)
• DuPont Global Automotive Color Popularity Report Uncovers Insights from 11 Key Automotive Regions (59th report) — DuPont via PR Newswire (Industry dataset)
• 2012 DuPont Automotive Color Popularity Report: White Stays Atop the World's Car Color Ranks — Digital Dealer (reproduction of DuPont release) (Reference work)
• Global Automotive 2023 Color Popularity Report (71st report) — Axalta Coating Systems (Industry dataset)
• Global Automotive Color Popularity Report 2024 (72nd report) — Axalta Coating Systems (Industry dataset)
• 2025 Global Automotive Color Popularity Report (73rd report) — Axalta Coating Systems (Industry dataset)
• BASF Color Report 2019 for Automotive OEM Coatings (press kit) — BASF Coatings (Industry dataset)
• BASF Color Report 2022 for Automotive OEM Coatings (press kit) — BASF Coatings (Industry dataset)
• Neuzulassungen von Personenkraftwagen in den Jahren 2014 bis 2023 nach ausgewählten Farben — Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt (German Federal Motor Transport Authority) (Official standard or government)
• Colours put in the shade as grey matters most to UK car buyers — Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) (Industry dataset)
• Grey still Britain's top new car colour but blue bounces up the charts — Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) (Industry dataset)
• DuPont Says Silver, Black in Race for World's Most Popular Car Color (58th report) — DuPont via PR Newswire (Industry dataset)
• Axalta's 2022 Global Automotive Color Popularity Report Marks 70th Year of Providing Industry Insights — Axalta Coating Systems (investor relations news release) (Industry dataset)
• How Lego bricks went from five colors to nearly 200 — The Washington Post (Kati Perry), syndicated by The Spokesman-Review (Reference work)

Reviewed 6 October 2026. Colourwise summarises its sources in its own words and does not reproduce standards text or proprietary colour data. Spotted an error? Tell us.