Silver Streak: Silver Reigns in Europe for Sixth Straight Year, According to PPG Industries' Global Color Popularity Survey

INGERSHEIM, Germany, October 18 --

- The world's most popular vehicle color gains momentum as exploration of bright and light metallic shades continue

The vehicle color crown in Europe still rests securely atop silver. The 2004 model year finds that silver ranked as the most popular vehicle color for the sixth consecutive year in Europe, according to the annual global color popularity survey conducted by PPG Industries, the world's leading manufacturer of transportation coatings.

Silver topped all other colors among European vehicles produced in 2004 with 35.4 percent, up from 33.6 percent in 2003. Silver also led global color popularity with 38 percent for the 2004 model year.

"As silver maintains its leading presence in Europe and around the globe, we continue to explore the development of new effects and technologies that can be used to create unique shades and textures," said Reiner Mueller-Koerber, manager, European styling for PPG automotive coatings. "Due to its high-tech appearance and its unique ability to highlight a vehicle's design, silver has the potential to remain No. 1 for years to come."

Research conducted by PPG in France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Scandinavia, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom reveals that for the 2004 model year, blue was Europe's second most popular color with 16.1 percent of vehicles produced, followed by black at 12.5 percent and white at 11 percent. The naturals color family -- which includes gold, copper, champagne and lighter shades of brown and yellow -- was featured on 9.2 percent of vehicles, while red came in at 8.5 percent and green at 7.2 percent.

Globally, white was the second most popular vehicle color in 2004 with 15.4 percent, followed by black with 13.9 percent, naturals at 9.3 percent, blue with 8.9 percent, red at 6.9 percent, green with 6.3 percent and others just over 1 percent.

Consisting of more than 25 colorists in North America, Europe, Japan, South America, India, Australia, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, South Korea and China, the PPG Global Design and Color Marketing Team is able to provide automakers with cutting-edge color palettes and special effects that meet automakers goals for brand identity, durability, workability and cost effectiveness. Year after year, the team is dedicated to providing the latest colors and technologies to help automakers achieve their marketing and sales objectives.

The team combines research of global automotive, fashion, architectural and interior design trends with insight of regional influences and knowledge of new technologies to gain a better understanding of international color preferences.

For more than 20 years, PPG has been tracking and presenting color creations and the latest technical information to automakers worldwide. In addition to identifying automotive color trends, PPG also helps define trends for aerospace, aftermarket, architectural, general industry, glass and trade sale products.

On the forefront of innovation in decorative and protective coatings and environmental application concerns since 1927, PPG has long been a leader in helping automakers advance technologies and processes used in the application of automotive coatings.

Pittsburgh-based PPG is the world's leading manufacturer of transportation coatings and a global supplier of industrial and packaging coatings, and a leading North American producer of architectural coatings. In addition, PPG manufactures flat and fabricated glass, continuous-strand fiber glass and chemicals. Sales were US$8.8 billion in 2003.