New car buyers in the Bay of Plenty opt for silver more often than any other colour, unlike most of the rest of New Zealand.

Tauranga car buyers - 25.5 per cent of them, in fact, go with the national trend and choose white.

White is the most common car colour in the whole of New Zealand, making up just under a quarter of new vehicles, according to the latest NZTA figures.

Pongakawa resident Melissa Smith and her partner wanted a different colour for their new Hyundai Tucson, choosing a dark blue - the sixth most popular colour in recent registrations, both in the Bay and nationwide.

"All our cars have been silver and we wanted something different," Smith said.

In the Bay of Plenty region, 25.3 per cent of new car buyers opt for silver, with just over nine per cent choosing blue.

The NZTA figures from January show grey, black and red are also in the top five most popular colours, in both the Bay of Plenty and nationally.

John Hayes, dealer principal at Tauranga Citroen, said people commonly chose smaller cars in brighter colours, and large vehicles in duller colours.

"Yellow in a big car is too much," he said.

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Mr Hayes said he had not observed a more general trend in colour choice, but their 2-series cars were commonly bought in colours such as orange and red.

Many larger vehicles are not offered in such a wide range of colours, he said.

Silver was far more popular than white in Rotorua, Whakatane and Western Bay of Plenty.

The trend was most noticeable in Whakatane, where more than a third of new vehicles registered were silver.

One New Zealand study from 2003 suggested silver was the safest colour, but a later Australian study found it was among the least safe.

Ms Smith said she did not consider safety when choosing the colour of her new car, as it was packed with safety features like reversing cameras and air bags.

She and her partner chose blue solely because they liked the colour.

"We've always wanted a blue car."

Bay of Plenty January 2017

Colour, Number, Percentage
Silver, 234, 25.3
White, 196, 21.2
Grey, 152, 16.4
Black, 102, 11
Red, 99, 10.7
Blue, 85, 9.2
Orange, 14, 1.5
Yellow, 13, 1.4
Green, 12, 1.3
Brown, 10, 1.1

New Zealand January 2017

Colour, Number, Percentage
White, 3284, 24.5
Silver, 2847, 21.2
Grey, 1875, 14
Black, 1761, 13
Red, 1427, 10.6
Blue, 1303, 9.7
Green, 228, 1.7
Orange, 212, 1.6
Brown, 193, 1.4
Yellow, 158, 1.2

- Bay of Plenty Times^[4]