"Silver Bells" is a popular song this time of year, but if there were a year-round ditty about vehicle colors it might be called "Silver Cars," according to the Detroit News. Amid the growing popularity of chrome and stainless steel in designs for everything from toaster ovens to wall clocks to furniture, silver is the most popular vehicle color in North America, according to separate surveys by auto paint suppliers DuPont Automotive and PPG Automotive. "Silver has always been a color of opulence, but most keen in the psyche of consumers today is that it represents technology and modernism," said Lorene Boettcher, manager of global design and color marketing for PPG Automotive. "If you look back at the '50s, silver was popular then as well." Silver was the color of choice for 24 percent of 2003 model year vehicles in PPG's recent report and 20.2 percent in DuPont's. White placed second in both studies, followed by red in the PPG survey and black for DuPont, according to the News. "Silver does accentuate the design of a car," said Robert Daily, color marketing manager for DuPont Automotive in Troy. "If you look at the cars at the auto show, many of the exhibits are done in silver." Blue checked in with 11 percent in the PPG study and 8.5 percent in the DuPont report. "I think blue is going to make some major inroads in the next three or four years," Daily said. "I also see red continuing to increase. Overall, I think we're going to see generally brighter colors or colors with more chroma or liveliness to them."