BASF’s Coatings division, the European market leader on color development for automotive OEM coatings, presents the new BASF european color report For Automotive OEM coatings. The report provides detailed insights into the colors sported by the cars on Europe’s roads. It also highlights end customers’ growing need for individuality expressed by special effects and a variety of colors.
White is still the most popular car color in Europe, with a share of 29 percent, followed by black with 19 percent and gray with 18 percent. Nearly 80 percent of the automotive colors in 2016 belong to the achromatic color range. Among the chromatic colors, blue continues to be the most popular color, with 10 percent, followed by red and brown. When the vehicle segments are compared, the following differences are observed: While small cars are often finished in white or chromatic colors, for SUVs, gray is the predominant color.
Although the distribution of colors in 2016 remained nearly constant, there was an increase in the color diversity within the color ranges. The reasons for this are the ongoing development of new colors, as well as the high demand for special effects across the board. Mixing existing colors with different effect particles produces customized pearl or metallic effects.
