Black and grey are now the colours of choice for one in four new car buyers.

Last year saw a surge in the number of black and grey cars leaving showrooms compared to 2003, according to the latest motorparc figures released by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT). The number of new red cars has halved since 1998.

The most common colour of car on British roads (any age) is blue. 1.6 million more than second placed silver.

New car volumes by colour 2004 v 2003

SMMT chief executive, Christopher Macgowan, says: “One hundred years ago, Henry Ford said you could buy the model T in any colour as long as it was black. Today, new car buyers have more model and colour choice than at any time in the past. But now black is increasingly the colour of choice, rather than of necessity.”

Blue dominates the British car parc. Of 29.4 million models running at the end of 2004, there were 1.6 million more blue models than of second-placed silver (7.3 million v 5.7 million).