Growing gray matter
Gray has been the most common paint color in the Dutch fleet since 2005, but it is still becoming more popular. This year, our country will have more than 3 million gray cars for the first time, according to figures from Statistics Netherlands. Not only that: the average age of the car owner and of the cars themselves is also increasing.
From silver gray to anthracite: gray has long been a popular color for cars. The lines of a body often come out well and the shade is not so noticeable, so that few people off the head – which in turn is good for the residual value. In addition to the usual metallic gray tones, ‘flat’ gray colors have also become popular in recent years. Think of the Nardo gray that Audi started with, or – slightly more exclusive – the relatively popular chalk gray from Porsche. The fame of the former did not go unnoticed by other brands. Not only group members Skoda and Volkswagen, but – among others – even competitor BMW now offers an almost equal paint.
The figures therefore do not lie: in 2022 there will be more than 3 million gray cars in the Netherlands for the first time. This makes it by far the most popular color. This is evident from the recently published ‘The Netherlands in Figures 2022’ by Statistics Netherlands. Number two is black (2,146,077 cars) and number three is blue (1,247,947 cars). The top five is completed by white and red, shades that appear on 1,173,374 and 575,899 cars respectively. For the imaging: in 2003 the top five still consisted of blue, gray, red, green and black – in that order. In the year 2000, red was even number one.
A Porsche Taycan in ‘chalk grey’.
Six times more car owners are 85+
Not only the color of the cars themselves, but also that of the hair of Dutch drivers is increasingly gray. Where in 2000 the average car owner was still 46 years old, that is now 52 years old. In addition, the number of car owners aged 65 or older tripled in the same period and the number of 85 or older even increased sixfold. Meanwhile, the number of owners in the 18 to 30 age group remained almost exactly the same.
A similar trend is visible when you look at the ages of the cars. Or at least: they are also increasingly higher. The 15 and older category in particular has grown strongly over the past 22 years. In 2000, relatively few people drove older cars: 390,000 cars were then 15 years or older. This year there are no fewer than 2.26 million. Remarkable: the number of cars less than three years old decreased in the same period. Where this year there are about 1.22 million cars driving around in the Netherlands that have not yet passed the three, in 2000 there were 1.58 million.
In the meantime, the total number of cars with a Dutch license plate has increased considerably: in 2000 there were 6.34 million, this year there are 8.94 million. That number is still increasing – just like the number of driving license holders.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl