Motor Authority - blog Tag: Paint

Paint companies have a somewhat understandable fascination with color popularity, and each year they release their statistics, citing which new car color reigns supreme. This year, DuPont has named white its strongest seller, though just a few months ago PPG said silver was the hottest color.

The earlier PPG report did remark on the rise in popularity of white and its chromatic nemesis, black. DuPont found white, together with its near-twin white pearl, accounted for 20% of the cars covered with its paint, marking the second year that white outranked silver, which scored 17% this year, tied with black. PPG's results had silver at 20% with... Paint companies have a somewhat understandable fascination with color popularity, and each year they release their statistics, citing which new car color reigns supreme. This year, DuPont has named white its strongest seller, though just a few months ago PPG said silver was the hottest color. The earlier PPG report did remark on the rise in popularity of white and its chromatic nemesis, black. DuPont found white, together with its near-twin white pearl, accounted for 20% of the cars covered with its paint, marking the second year that white outranked silver, which scored 17% this year, tied with black. PPG's results had silver at 20% with white at 18% and black at 17% - all very close to DuPont's numbers, and together the two companies' results paint a clearer picture of the overall market. White, black and silver are all very nearly equally popular, and it's easy to understand why. The colors are never controversial, can be quite attractive while remaining reserved, and are likely to appeal to a wide range of buyers, unlike more polarizing colors. Other colors, such as blue, are gaining market share, especially in North America, but multi-color or tonal effects are also growing in popularity. "We're seeing basic colors like black, white and silver continuing in the lead but consumers are looking for differentiation with tri-coat and other effects," said Karen Surcina, DuPont's color marketing manager for performance coatings. "These colors and effects provide a higher degree of customization and luxury-effect which allow consumers a conservative differentiation from the traditional color palette." In the rest of the world, DuPont's finding the same basic colors, especially white and silver, at the forefront of sales. Asia in particular is enamored of silver cars,w ith 32% of Chinese and 50% of South Koreans choosing the color. White is most popular in India at 28%, though silver also claimed 27%, together accounting for more than half the country's cars. Longer-term trends show a decrease in silver cars and an increase in the others in almost all regions, according to DuPont's color designer for North America, Nancy Lockhart. "Moving forward, it will be imperative to refresh styling of these popular colors with different effects that can restore their popularity." Read More

Personal transport is often as much about personalization as it is transport, and choosing a color is part of that process. It turns out that a large portion of the public choose the same color - silver - but now other colors such as white, black and even blue, are starting to make inroads on the traditional favorite.

In Europe, 35% of new cars are silver, while Asia goes even farther to 37%. North American buyers only choose silver 20% of the time, however, because white (18%) and black (17%) are both gaining ground. Red (13%) and blue (12%) are also popular, with categories like 'naturals' and 'other' bringing up the rear with 9% and 7%... Personal transport is often as much about personalization as it is transport, and choosing a color is part of that process. It turns out that a large portion of the public choose the same color - silver - but now other colors such as white, black and even blue, are starting to make inroads on the traditional favorite. In Europe, 35% of new cars are silver, while Asia goes even farther to 37%. North American buyers only choose silver 20% of the time, however, because white (18%) and black (17%) are both gaining ground. Red (13%) and blue (12%) are also popular, with categories like 'naturals' and 'other' bringing up the rear with 9% and 7% respectively. Green gets just 4% of the market. While silver remains the most popular color even in North America, it isn't just a monotone silver anymore, says Jane E. Harrington, manager of color styling and automotive coatings for leading paint manufacturer PPG. "With advances in technology and design, silver shades continue to evolve with the incorporation of hue shifts, color tints, aluminum flake size and appearance. Silver, along with black and white, is offered on every vehicle line as part of the core color palette, which also increases its popularity." Black is even more popular in Europe than Silver is in the U.S., however. At 24% of the market, it's still well behind silver, but doubles the percentage of blue cars sold each year, though at 12%, blue is still the third most popular color in Europe. Part of the increase in color popularity for black, white and other shades comes from the auto show circuit and concept cars. Matte colors are also growing in popularity thanks to these sources. "For the second consecutive year, blue was the favorite color selected by the 1,200 potential car buyers PPG polled at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit last January," Harrington said. "Blue will be the new major color area for the coming years," said Reiner Mueller-Koerber, PPG manager, color styling, Europe. "Dark blues have the potential to replace traditional dark grays and blacks, while lighter blues can be seen as variations of tinted silvers. Blue has the ability to cover the spectrum, from rich and deep to clean and fresh." As automakers chase the elusive 'hot new color' PPG is working on new paint technologies and techniques to create complex colors that present more visual stimuli, and also to create 'functional effect' colors: colors that aren't purely decorative, but also perform some job for the car or driver. While PPG isn't explicit on what exactly those functions might be, it's easy to imagine matte black areas to mitigate glare or super-durable paint colors in areas subject to high wear or abrasion. Self-cleaning paint is already on the horizon, so that's another potential function that could be headed to production soon. Read More