BASF has unveiled its annual automotive color trend report, which looks 2-3 years out, based on research efforts by its team of global color design experts. The theme of the forecast, “Making Headway” indicates a movement towards more color shades than in previous years, with BASF presenting 65 new colors to automakers and designers around the world.

BASF’s new color offerings demonstrate how new and brighter interpretations of colors with different textures will become increasingly important to designers and consumers as people worldwide strive to highlight individual uniqueness and regain a more “human-friendly” life outside of the digitized world.

“We look to develop color spaces that capture a look that says ‘this is me’,” said Paul Czornij, Technical Manager for the BASF Color Excellence group. “There is so much emotion and psychology attached to color, which makes it an ideal expression of one’s image to the outside world, and it works so remarkably well with car body shapes. You can truly see innovation in action.”

BASF provides a full spectrum of color solutions and extensive color development capabilities that enable its customers to produce cars that capture the attention and appeal of individual car owners.

North American Color Trends

In North America, cool deep and dark tone colors such as blue and brown have been refreshed from their traditional state by changes in depth and brightness. Special effect technologies, which give colors a three-dimensional quality, and matte finishes, offer a wider range of options. In addition, greens and bright yellowish green hues bring new tools for designers to entice potential car buyers. New areas focusing on texture modification are also gaining interest.

Based on a recent survey conducted by BASF, most North American consumers polled (60 percent) currently drive a neutral color car, such as silver, black or white, but when asked what color offerings they preferred from a selection of new colors from BASF’s trend report, nearly half of the respondents (49 percent) selected a grouping of brighter jewel-toned shades of reds and blues.

“This reflects what our color trend research is showing for color preferences,” says Czornij. “It underscores the preference for optimism and confidence pointing toward a better future.”

Global Trends

In the Asia Pacific region, BASF’s color trend forecast reflects the region’s strong sense of its growing presence on the global stage  with themes of pride in culture and identity, independent from trends in other countries.

Neutral colors such as black, silver, gray and white will continue to dominate the Asia-Pacific market, but as original designs and personal style becomes more important to buyers, BASF predicts there will be a gradual emergence of sophisticated intermediate colors, such as olive-greens and bluish grays.

In Europe, where people have been impacted by the economic crisis and changes in energy policy, there is a tendency to move forward rationally and calmly. This results in a balance between creative, courageous colors such as red and green and calmer, neutral colors such as black and gray. Two colors that represent this shift are Particular Gray, an elegant black color with a subtle fine metallic look, and Fiberphyllic, a bold, yellowish-green offering a more expressive coarse feel.

BASF Automotive Coatings delivers a complete coatings portfolio directly to major automotive manufacturers and their suppliers. BASF Automotive Coatings offers the advantage of a global expertise and network to meet customer requirements and quality standards worldwide.