Canadians tend to stick with traditional colour choices when picking out a new car, according to a new study that found silver/grey is by far the most common choice across the country.

The new study by Leger Marketing, which was commissioned by Ford Motor Co., suggests that Canadians don't get too adventurous when choosing their car colour.

Country-wide, 22.3 per cent of Canadians chose silver/grey for their new car, black followed well behind at 14.1 per cent, blue came in at 13.6 per cent and red followed at 11.6 per cent.

Surprisingly, the colour white -- a popular choice in warmer climes -- came in at just fifth place at 6.9 per cent.

The study suggests Canada's messy winter driving conditions may have led drivers here to avoid the hard-to-keep-clean colour choice.

The following colours rounded out the top eight:

  • Green: 6 per cent
  • Gold: 3.8 per cent
  • Orange: 0.4 per cent

Another 11 per cent of Canadians said their top colour choice was not among the top 8 options.

When the results of the survey were broken down provincially, some interesting trends emerged.

In Atlantic Canada, for example, there was a surprisingly high proportion of gold and red cars.

In total 8.4 per cent of cars were gold, and a whopping 18.4 per cent were red -- the highest percentage across the country.

Albertans tend to prefer blue cars over any colour with a total of 16 per cent of their vehicles being of that colour, just ahead of Quebecers at 15.4 per cent.

Ontarians were least likely to purchase a blue car, with just 12.9 per cent choosing that colour, while 17.1 per cent of Ontarians chose black cars -- the highest percentage in any of the provinces.

The study also found:

  • Prairie dwellers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan tend to have the highest appreciation for white cars, at 14.2 per cent.
  • Drivers in Manitoba and Saskatchewan also had the highest percentage of green cars, at 9.9 per cent.
  • B.C. drivers also have an above-average appreciation for green cars, at 8.4 per cent.

The study also found that as a buyer's age increases, surprisingly so does the likelihood that he or she will choose a colour outside of the top eight. Among those 18 to 34, 5 per cent were likely to choose an unconventional colour. For those 65 and older, however, 20 per cent were likely to do so.

"Moreover, the likelihood of choosing red steadily increases while the likelihood of choosing black steadily decreases as the population gets older," the study states.

Also, men are more likely to choose black, while women prefer red, and Canadians earning over $80,000 per year are much more likely to choose black, as are single car buyers.

Canadians' choice of silver as their favourite car colour reflects the trend around the globe, the study said.

When looking at trends in various nations around the world the researchers found people in Turkey love white cars,  comprising nearly half the total vehicles. Black is the top choice in Norway, Portugal, Germany and Russia.

And oddly, the Czech Republic bucked the trends in the rest of Europe and chose blue as its top car colour. Every other European nation chose white, black or silver.

In France and Italy, cream-coloured cars are the top choice.

Susan Swek, Ford's chief designer of colours and materials, said n a statement that buyers "form an emotional connection" to their colour choices.

"Our internal research shows up to 40 per cent of car buyers say they would walk out of a dealership if they couldn't buy a car in the colour they wanted," she said. 

Methodology:

The survey was completed online by Leger Marketing from June 27 to June 29. A sample of 1,576 Canadians, 18 and older, were surveyed.

The survey's margin of error is +/-2.5 per cent, 19 times out of 20.