Axalta Coating Systems has been invited to present the latest automotive color trends at “Color Changes Future” – the 6th Color Training Session organized by Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s Design Trend Institute. This color training session marks the start of a collaboration between Axalta and Shanghai Jiao Tong University on automotive color’s research and application.

The Design Trend Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University is an organization dedicated to research and development of design trends and color trends for the automotive industry in China.

“It’s our honor to be given this opportunity to share Axalta’s leading innovation concept, insights and solutions on automotive color to OEMs during the color training session,” said Luke Lu, Axalta Vice President and President, Greater China. “Collaborating with the Design Trend Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University to enable automotive manufacturers to have a deeper insight into automotive colors trends is very meaningful in 2016, the year that we celebrate our 150th anniversary in coatings industry.”

Associate Professor John Fu (Fu Jiong), Head of the Design Trend Institute of Shanghai Jiao Tong University, commented, “Axalta is a well-known leading automotive coatings supplier and an expert on automotive color innovation in global automotive industry. Its annual Color Show tailor-made for automotive manufacturers has been benefiting the automotive industry and its customers for many years. We are very excited that we could invite Axalta as our partner to present their the latest color trends during our sixth Color Training session.”

The Design Trend Institute enjoys a good reputation in the industry for its strong color design and education capability. It established Color Training for the Automotive Industry in 2014. The previous five training sessions have attracted more than 34 automotive manufacturers including Shanghai General Motors, Shanghai Volkswagen Automobile, Beijing Automotive, Kia Motors, Chery Automobiles, and Geely Automobile.

During the session, Annie You, Transportation Color Marketing Leader of Axalta Greater China, presented Destination Color 2016, a portfolio of color choices inspired by changing consumer lifestyles and designed to enable automobile manufacturers to select colors that will fulfill their customers’ preferences and color choices for vehicles. The portfolio also introduces Axalta’s insights and findings on automotive color innovation as well as leading environmentally responsible solutions that Axalta is offering to the automotive market in China and around the world.

Axalta established the first-ever Color Advisory Committee more than 90 years ago to craft colors specifically for cars. Over decades of continuous development, Axalta has built a database of more than four million colors which provides both original equipment manufacturers and collision repair technicians with one of the most extensive color databases in the world. Axalta’s annual Global Automotive Color Popularity Report, published every year since 1953, tracks color trends around the world.

China is one of the strategic markets for Axalta’s color innovation and application. Axalta has invested in facilities such as its Global Color Lab in Shanghai where color experts work closely with automotive OEMs to create colors that meet local and regional consumer demands while analyzing market trends for color preferences.