PPG Publishes 2021 Automotive Color Report

PPG Releases 2021 Automotive Color Report \ PPG Report Shows Two-Tone Coatings, Personalization Gaining Favor Among Vehicle Buyers The company's 2021 automotive color report highlights new trends influenced by social change, holistic color styling and sustainable application technologies. PPG released its 2021 automotive color popularity report highlighting rising demand for two-tone coatings, personalized colors and other emerging trends among vehicle buyers. The rise of two-tone coatings reflects consumers' desire for personalization. Significant advances in color science and application technologies offer the opportunity to bring these style choices to the masses in a more practical and sustainable manner. Misty Yeomans, color style director for PPG's North American automotive OEM business, said, "At this point in time when we as a society are looking back, it makes perfect sense that two-tone coatings are becoming a favorite again," adding that "custom order colors, tinted clear coats, tri-coats and matte finishes, along with two-tone coatings, better reflect vehicle owners' individual preferences and personalities." While two-tone coatings were common in the 1950s and 1960s, traditional color development and application processes made them increasingly impractical in mass production environments. The conventional process for achieving a two-tone finish requires labor-intensive masking of the vehicle body and multiple operations in the paint shop. Through groundbreaking application technology that produces sharp paint edges without masking and other time-consuming steps, PPG has helped global OEMs overcome this challenge. PPG's precision application process can reduce paint shop application time by approximately 50 minutes per two-tone vehicle. It supports customer sustainability goals by reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and eliminating the need for energy-intensive air filtration systems to handle overspray. Color personalization is also enabled through PPG advances in digital color styling, which significantly reduces time to market for new colors. Other trends highlighted in the PPG report include increased popularity of grays, blues, greens and purples, and vibrant new colors are more likely to be offered on sport models than on SUVs and pickup trucks. [caption id="attachment_135045" align="aligncenter"] PPG released its 2021 automotive color report highlighting new trends influenced by social change, holistic color styling and sustainable application technologies. (Graphic: Business Wire)[/caption]

Green Inspires Confidence

Green maintains its global strength with its connection to nature, sustainability and inclusivity. It will continue to be an important color segment for the automotive industry. Yeomans said, "Green is also viewed as a 'traffic light' color serving as a signal for everyone's progress – it's safe and we can trust this color." "Green has two sides. One is sporty, fresh and vibrant. The other is organic and deeper. Darker shades have been developed or designed as dark luxury greens, but still with a sporty and fresh attitude." From a global perspective, white (35% of vehicle production) and black (18%) remain the dominant preferences among vehicle buyers, while demand for grays has increased by 2% over the past two years. Blues remain strong at 8%, while reds have fallen to 7% of production. This led a 1.5% decline among North American consumers. PPG is also placing greater emphasis on adopting a holistic approach to vehicle design. Yeomans said, "We evaluate all surfaces and features of the vehicle as part of our coloring process." "For example, we're seeing increased use of custom wheel coatings and colors to complement the vehicle body's style cues." PPG's unique position as a global color leader enables the company to observe and translate emerging color trends for its customers' applications spanning from consumer products to automotive color and from residential to commercial and industrial design. Using this fact-based approach, PPG color experts help customers generate color ideas based on cultural and demographic trends. Emerging color technologies span a diverse range of materials and surfaces, shorten development cycles and bring more desirable and better-looking products to market faster. Source