Silver increases its dominance as the vehicle color of choice in North America and around the world

TROY, Mich., Oct. 18 -- Never mind striking gold. The 2004 model year marks the fourth consecutive year that silver ranked as the most popular vehicle color in North America, 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 North American vehicles produced in the 2004 model year with 27 percent, up from 24 percent in 2003. A member of the neutral color family, silver remained the leading color for all vehicle segments and was highest in the sport/compact category, where it rose to 31 percent -- up from 11 percent in 2003, the largest increase in any segment category.

"Silver is the commanding color of choice around the globe this year and its popularity only seems to be strengthening," said Lorene C. Boettcher, manager, Global Design and Color Marketing, automotive coatings for PPG. "We continue to explore development of bold new properties for silver and related bright and light metallics. Driven by vehicle design and consumer preference, silver has the staying power to remain No. 1."

After silver, PPG reveals that for the 2004 model year, red and white were each featured on 14 percent of vehicles produced in North America, tying for the second most popular.

In North America, black finished third at 13 percent, followed by blue at 12 percent. The naturals color family -- which includes gold, copper, champagne and lighter shades of brown and yellow -- captured 11 percent, while green came in at 5 percent. Other niche and specialty colors were featured on 4 percent of vehicles.

Global color trend data collected by PPG found that silver was not only the top choice in North America but worldwide. Of the major auto markets studied, silver was featured on 38 percent of vehicles produced.

Globally, white took second 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 trend recommendations to help enhance the brand identity and image of their vehicles.

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 producer of architectural coatings, primarily in North America. In addition, PPG manufactures flat and fabricated glass, continuous-strand fiber glass and chemicals. Sales were US$8.8 billion in 2003.