The latest trend research by the chemical company BASF shows that the traditional color palette in the automotive sector has undergone a change. The BASF Color Report 2023 for Automotive OEM Coatings underpins this trend with figures.
Achromatic shades - i.e. white, black, gray and silver - are undergoing a significant change as the basis for automotive colors. Although white is still the most common color for small cars, it is experiencing a significant decline in market share. In contrast, black has gained in popularity and taken market share from white in particular. Consumer preferences also differ from region to region. In North America, for example, lighter silver tones are increasingly preferred over darker gray tones, while in Europe, the Middle East and Africa the trend is towards darker tones. Chromatic shades, on the other hand, remained stable without any significant change in their overall market share (19%). This category includes colors such as blue, red, brown and beige, which continue to be very popular with customers. European customers have country-specific preferences when it comes to choosing colors. Germany favors blue (11 %), Spain and the UK prefer red and orange (approx. 9 %), France likes green (6 %) and Italy loves all colors. The proportion of chromatic colors there is the highest of all five countries (30%).
"Although the achromatic colors are still the most popular, each country seems to have its favorite color in the chromatic range," says Mark Gutjahr, Global Head of Automotive Color Design at BASF.
BASF's Coatings division has global expertise in the development, production and marketing of automotive and automotive refinish coatings, architectural coatings and applied surface technology for metal, plastic and glass substrates for numerous industries.
