In 2009 I blogged about a row in Derby about the yellow colour of taxis. But times change. Things move on, Today I am reading about a problem in Durham – for those who don’t know, Durham is in the north-east of England – about white taxis!! Apparently, this week ten drivers stormed out of a meeting with councillors over a proposal to adopt a policy for all-white colour taxis in the county of Durham. The argument for white taxis is that it would make them stand out and ensure that customers knew which taxis were legitimate. Sounds pretty sensible to me. It would work because white is a very unpopular colour for cars in the UK. I have heard that second-hand car salesmen refer to white as six-week white because it takes 6 weeks longer to sell a white car than other coloured cars. Whereas in other parts of the world, I have noticed in my travels that white cars are quite popular. Perhaps there is a business opportunity here – to export the unpopular white cars to places where they may sell for a premium.
According to a new study (2011) by Leger Marketing, commissioned by Ford of Canada, in Canada silver/grey is by far the most popular at 22.3%, with black at 14.1%, blue at 13.6%, then red well behind at 11.6%. White, a global favourite according to the survey, was fifth choice at 6.9%. Other choices were green at 6%, gold at 3.8% and orange at 0.4%. Eleven per cent of Canadians surveyed chose a colour other than those listed. So my idea that white is popular for cars in most places is true, but not in UK and not in Canada. Perhaps Canada and UK have more in common than sense of humour*.
* One of the funniest things I heard – apparently there was a competition in Canada to complete the phrase “s Canadian as ….” along the lines of “As American as apple pie!. The winning entry was “As Canadian as … possible under the circumstances”. There are lots of countries where this might be an entry, but not many where it would be the winning entry. Congratulations Canada!!