BASF analyses 2016 colour trends

BASF’s Coatings division, the European market leader on coloor development for automotive OEM coatings has presented its new “BASF European colour Report For Automotive OEM Coatings”.

The report provides detailed insights into the colours 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 colours.

White is still the most popular car colour 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 colours in 2016 belong to the achromatic colour range. Among the chromatic colours, blue continues to be the most popular colour, 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 colours, for SUVs, gray is the predominant colour.

Although the distribution of colours in 2016 remained nearly constant, there was an increase in the colour diversity within the colour ranges. The reasons for this are the ongoing development of new colours, as well as the high demand for special effects across the board. Mixing existing colours with different effect particles produces customized pearl or metallic effects. The wide range of possible combinations gives rise to an extraordinary abundance of colour variations. “This wide range of possibilities for car colours also goes hand in hand with the social megatrend toward individualization. Nowadays, end customers are able to select unique, personalized colours for their cars,” said Stefan Sickert, head of Project Management Basecoat. In addition to helping individualize a car, effects also accentuate the body shape and thus highlight the vehicle’s character. Blue is the leading colour in terms of diversity with over 100 colour variations. Gray is close behind with some 90 different shades.

With the analysis of the distribution of automotive colours in Europe, BASF’s European colour Report supplements the facts contained in the Automotive colour Trends published annually by BASF’s Coatings division. While the trend collection presents colour concepts that will shape the automotive future, the colour Report is concerned with the present-day market situation and thus refers to the data of the previous year.