I have always thought that one's choice of car correlates with their political leaning. Studies in recent years in the United States have proven this to be true. In fact, it's actually pretty cool. You can pretend to be Sherlook Holmes and deduce quite a lot about a person you have never met before just by carefully observing their car.
A car's brand, for example, labels most people instantly. Note the chart below.[1]
The brands to the left of zero are Democrats (blue) and those to the right are Republicans (red). Several things are interesting here–and these are mainly my own opinions. Owners of red brands are obviously right leaning. They are primarily home-made brands, purchased by loyal, salt-of-the-earth workers that keep the economy running, especially since a lot of the vehicles are trucks. Owners of blue brands are obviously left-leaning. They are primarily imports and luxury vehicles. Deductive reasoning could easily reach the conclusion that these owners are self-centered, greedy, elitist, and entitled. From their leftist politics, they are socialists, so why would they want to show off their wealth to the world? Plus their penchant for imported cars shows them to be less loyal to their country than red brand owners. This is hypocrisy at its worst. I don't know if the same holds true for Canada since no similar surveys have been taken. I expect similar conclusions would be found, though.
Tesla is an interesting case by itself. Since it is electric, it's position reveals that buyers somehow believe they are doing a good deed for the planet [2], but since they have lots of money, might they not just as easily turn around and take an expensive, long-range vacation on a fossil fuel-burning jet aircraft? This last has no proof in any studies; it's just my conclusion from associating with these types of people. Again, hypocrisy. Oh, yes, and when it comes to future choices for car purchases, "A 2023 Gallup poll found that 71% of Republicans would not consider buying an electric vehicle, compared with 17% of Democrats. Similarly, a 2023 Pew Research survey found that 70% of Republican or Republican-leaning Americans were unlikely to consider one."[3] Likewise, a full 61% of Americans overall thought that electric vehicles helped climate change only a little or not at all.[4] Doesn't there seem to be a disconnect here? It will be interesting to see if Tesla sales drop now that Elon Musk appears to be veering to the right in his politics. As for Teslas in Canada, my educated guess would be that left-leaning people also buy them here, although I have no proof. From simply standing at the roadside and counting cars–no, not the most rigorous scientific study–there appear to be between 5 and 8% of total vehicles that are Teslas in the lower mainland area of British Columbia. This is a fairly substantial portion of total cars on the road and, since BC is a mostly left-leaning province, especially in the lower mainland, I would deduce that the owners are also generally left-leaning.
Car colour is another indicator of one's politics. Indeed, in my opinion, it may well be proof of how both the USA and Canada have become so politically divided over the last 20 to 30 years. Whereas a couple of decades ago, and even moreso in the 1950s and 60s if you can remember that far back, cars had a multiplicity of colours. People were much less concerned about personal politics. A dozen years ago the more neutral silver/grey was the highest seller and white was nowhere to be seen. Now, it is quite simply a black and white issue. As of 2022, white cars were the biggest sellers in the USA at 25.8%, followed by black at 22.3%.[5] Furthermore, a study from 2016 proved that Republican-voting states overwhelmingly owned white cars while Democrat-voting states correspondingly owned black cars.[6] The few exceptions were Democrat-voting sunbelt states that opted for white cars. While so far not provable, this was probably due to the practicality of reflective white cars winning out over heat-absorbing black cars.
What about Canada as far as car colours go? Well, as of 2024, the most popular colour was white at 23.9%, similar to all other countries. White was the big favourite for Tesla purchasers at 70%. Among other car models in Canada, the divide was not as extreme as in the USA and tended to be more politically neutral overall. The only conclusion to be drawn from this would be that car colour does not determine one's political bent as much as in the USA.
References
[1] Shannon, M and Feltus, W. (2023, June 6). The ‘Elon Paradox’: He sells Teslas–but you’d expect him to drive a Ram. Here’s what your car says about your politics. Fortune. Retrieved August 22, 2024, from https://fortune.com/2023/06/06/elon-paradox-sells-tesla-expect-him-to-drive-a-ram-what-your-car-says-about-your-politics/
[2] Sintov, N. D., Abou-Ghalioum, V., White, L. V. (2020). The partisan politics of low-carbon transport: Why democrats are more likely to adopt electric vehicles than Republicans in the United States, Energy Research & Social Science, Volume 68, 101576. ISSN 2214-6296, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2020.101576.
[3] Matthews, A. L. (2024, February 21). Is electric vehicle ownership partisan? Three graphics show what we know. CNN. Retrieved August 22, 2024, from https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/21/us/electric-vehicles-republican-voters-dg/index.html
[4] Brenan, M. (2023, April12). Most Americans Are Not Completely Sold on Electric Vehicles. Gallup. Retrieved August 22, 2024, from https://news.gallup.com/poll/474095/americans-not-completely-sold-electric-vehicles.aspx
[5] Gorzelany, J. (2022, October 4). Here’s Why The Most Popular Car Colors Are Also The Dullest. Forbes. Retrieved August 22, 2024, from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimgorzelany/2022/10/04/heres-why-the-most-popular-car-colors-are-also-the-dullest/
[6] Schmitz, M. (2016, June 6). Primary Colors: Does Political Affiliation Influence Car Color Choices? Cars.com. Retrieved August 22, 2024, from https://www.cars.com/articles/primary-colors-does-political-affiliation-influence-car-color-choices-1420684681197/
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