Orange Is the New Black — at Least for Male Car Buyers

The biggest positive move came for brown which moved up in the ranking from 11th to 2nd, again driven by a preference edge of nearly 10% among male buyers. Red, the most popular color among car buyers in 2013, dropped to fourth place.

Among female buyers gold was the top pick with a female bias of 11.2% for the color. Gold, which ranked third among female buyers in 2013, displaced silver as the top pick for women. Silver was the second most preferred color among women followed by beige.

The data were collected and analysed by iSeeCars, which reviewed more than 25 million used car listings and more than 200,000 consumer inquiries in 2014 at the company’s website. The difference in percentage between male and female inquiries was expressed as a percentage of female inquiry share and male inquiry share to calculate male and female bias toward each color.

The company’s analysts noted that one factor that may help explain the shift is market changes was a shift in the muscle car segment, which tends to attract more male buyers. From 2013 to 2014, the segment experienced a 73.3 percent increase in market share for orange cars and a 30.2 percent decrease for red cars. Brown also attracted muscle car, as well as, luxury car buyers, both male-preferred segments.

Phong Ly, CEO at iSeeCars, said:

Beyond simply noting the most popular car colors from one year to the next, analyzing the shifts in consumers’ color preferences can signal where the industry will head in terms of future car color options.