Last year, according to auto-industry paint giant PPG, white was the most popular car color in North America for the fourth year running. Before white took the top spot, America clutched silver to her steely heart for a full decade. Add up white, black, gray, and silver, and you've accounted for the paint jobs on 72 percent of new cars sold in 2014—nearly three in four are, essentially, colorless. C'mon, people.
By our count, a person buying a car today can choose from nearly 1300 different hues (not including the nearly limitless offerings of some high-end companies' personalization programs). Of the 1284 available hues, 829 are actual colors, not just grayscale. And at least 207 of the automotive industry's 237 grays and silvers are extraneous, anyway: A recent study suggests…