Automotive color trends

[rickaren]

Automotive color trends: Silver remains car fans’ fave

Posted Friday, Oct 2, 2009, 11:09 am in Employee News

When it comes to car colors, most North Americans are pretty conservative, as silver and charcoal remained the most-popular exterior colors for the ninth consecutive year in PPG Industries’ annual presentation of color trends, the Detroit Free Press reported.

Silver and charcoal were chosen by one in four new car buyers this year, followed by white (18 percent), black (16 percent) and red (12 percent), the paper said. But the real news is how automakers are using different color palettes, depending on the size and styling of a vehicle, the Free Press said.

For example, as more subcompact cars are introduced, customers will see brighter, bolder colors, partly because a large percentage of those buyers are under 30 and partially because the body designs of smaller cars allow for brighter greens, yellows and blues, Jane Harrington, PPG manager of color styling and automotive coatings, told the paper.

PPG, which is not only a leading supplier of automotive paint but also manages some of its customers’ paint shops, is showing off colors it thinks will be popular in 2012 and 2013 model-year cars and trucks, the paper said. While silver, whites and blacks continue to predominate, enhancing effects and tints are being added to these old standbys, the Free Press said.

Other colors among the 60 new exterior hues PPG is presenting this week are champagne silver (with a slight copper-beige cast), outer space blue (with a sparkle effect) and haute couture (a sparkled blue mid-coat over a black base coat) and quantum red, an almost neon-like shade for interior applications, the story said. (Detroit Free Press)