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Johannesburg - South African vehicle sales saw minor growth in 2017; year-to-date new car sales in 2017 grew a modest 1.8%.
In total, 557 586 new vehicles were sold in South Africa during 2017. For the first time in four years, new vehicle sales during 2017 recorded a year-on-year improvement, albeit at a modest 1.8%.
Top car colours
What about SA's favourite car colour? The top-selling vehicle colour was white, followed by silver and grey, according to Lightstone Auto.
Most popular passenger car colours in SA:
White - 45.2%
Silver - 20.2%
Grey - 10.4%
Blue - 8.0%
Red - 9.2%
Black - 1.0%
We've included a full list of passenger car colours at the end of this article.
What's your favourite car colour (and for which model)? Which paintjob suits cars the best? Email us
Popularity of light-coloured paintjobs
Hein Coetzee, Head of Commercial at Lightstone Auto, said: "There are a number of factors responsible for the popularity of light-coloured, and particularly white, vehicles in South Africa.
"White-painted vehicles generally attract lower insurance premiums. This due to the cost of repainting the car in a body repair centre is normally lower than that of another colour vehicle (colour-matching, metallic paint, etc)
"The local climate is generally fairly warm, with a lot of sunshine, which means that darker-coloured vehicles absorb a fair amount of heat, and can be uncomfortable to drive (until the aircon kicks in).
"Lighter-coloured vehicles tend to 'hide' minor scratches/blemishes better than darker vehicles. This means that these vehicles look better for longer, and can lead to better resale values.
"In addition, the above almost leads to a self-fulfilling prophecy as high volume importers do not, generally speaking, order bespoke vehicles, rather they order in bulk, using past sales to help determine what colour vehicles to order."
Lightstone Auto, sent us a list of car colours SA citizens prefer purchasing. We've also included vehicle colours by type at the end of this article.
Vehicle sales by car colour in 2017: Passenger cars and LCVs
