Future Worldwide Automotive Color Trends From BASF
SOUTHFIELD, Mich.--Nov. 9, 2001--BASF presented its annual forecast of directions in color that will impact future automotive designs.Each year, BASF color experts from the company's principal centers of automotive coatings systems -- Germany, the United States and Japan -- review their findings with automotive manufacturers in those regions. Forecasted trends are typically realized in automotive designs two to three model years in the future.
"Distinguished automotive designs will feature the beauty and character of the machine rather than the speed it can generate," said Jon Hall, Manager, Color Development, BASF Automotive OEM Coatings Regional Business Unit. "Designs where lines attach in the front and follow a flow to the back -- creating something that looks like it's going 100 miles-per-hour standing still -- tend to camouflage components like mirrors, fenders and lights. We're tracking a new emphasis that allows individual elements and shapes to be a beautiful part of a whole, coming together as an industrial organism. Elements can even be made of different materials with different textures.
"This movement in design has inspired BASF to experiment with some kinds of overlaying of effect on color," Hall continued. "Since the new direction relies on classic automotive color areas like silver, dark blue and red, it is important to consider augmenting them to revitalize the effect. To achieve this, designers can consider lower gloss, higher sparkle, glow-in-the-dark or with retroreflective coatings to contrast or accent a classic color. Therefore, color will play a key role in automotive design differentiation that promotes beauty and character."
Differentiated colors in this new era will be "crisp and clear," said Hall. "Anything that looks washed out or murky, or doesn't have a clear distinction, will seem to be from the past. The exceptions will be new material effects that might have a natural subtlety, but most new color directions will be very light, very dark or clearly colorful." Hall provided more detailed forecasts in five main color families for automotive designs in the NAFTA region:
| -- | Bright metal: Creating a metallic effect is the most important trend, whether in a very smooth appearance like a "liquid silver" or a diamond-encrusted, crystal silver look. Both are intended to be as light and clear as possible. This is a new material look for the classic metallic appearance will significantly influence style for more than half of the colors coming in the next decade as further discoveries are made. |
| -- | Blue injected with passion: Blue remains an overlooked color, perhaps due to its business-like nature or being considered "safe," like gray or white. The new direction will be to bring passion to blue by injecting it with red. New reddish blues are more luxurious and inspiring than what's seen on the road today, and will be very dark bordering on black or light and nearly silver in winter hues. |
| -- | Black is a color: Designs will be back in black in many different versions - blue-, green- and red-blacks - that all give an impression of elegance. A subtle expression of understated taste for the beauty of the machine, these colors are intended to show good surface, design lines and timeless quality. |
| -- | Ore: Amber or ocher is the new direction in orange. Because it leans toward yellow, the new orange hues can easily be modified to be lighter without being fleshy, or darker without being brown. Whether subtle and luxurious or bright and sporty, this orange is warm enough to have a natural feeling, but close enough to yellow to suggest a metallic ore. |
| -- | Royal red: Yellowish reds look good light and bright because they are more sporty, but the key to rejuvenating red will be darker and more regal bluish reds. Designs will move from reds suggesting fire and into a new bloodline that may evoke memories of classic cars, but are really quite new. |
Europe
New design trends in Europe focus on regeneration, said Renate Weber, Chief Designer, BASF Coatings AG. "Colors are manifested in the changes that life goes through, and long for renewal," she said. "We are experiencing a new awareness of basic values such as social responsibility, humanity and perseverance. The young, revolutionary designers who dictate new styles for tomorrow are not influenced by conventions. They are adding a playful but visionary aspect to new product designs, and colors for automotive exteriors are important tools for them to create this new feeling.
"The longing for renewal leads to some new colors," she elaborated. "There are bright and optimistic primary colors originating from Scandinavia and the Caribbean that are particularly powerful when combined with metallic effects. We also see an exquisite warm beige with a sparkling touch of the sun, neutral gray and fascinating mixed colors from purple to turquoise and Bordeaux to black-violet. Some new colors even have a retro feel, like a dusted mauve that appears to come straight from the 19th century." According to Weber, the important upcoming trends in automotive colors for Europe are:
-- Silver and gold: Pure silver shades are being replaced by
variations, reflecting a fascination with precious metals and
a close relationship between technology and nature. Gold
represents perfection, wealth and power, and the range of
colors from gold to silver in luxury cars will be very
interesting.
-- Porcelain white: Stylists, trendsetters and researchers
forecast a comeback for white colors in Europe. White will
lose its image as a low-priced color and, through enrichment
with effect pigments, will become an interesting addition to
powdery pastel shades.
-- Yellow, orange and red: Yellows will become lighter and
softer, moving all the way to new beige shades. New orange
colors will be subtle and refined thanks to new effect
pigments. As also forecasted for the NAFTA region, red colors
in Europe will clearly become more bluish and full-bodied,
like a fine Bordeaux wine.
-- Black and gray: There is still a great potential for expansion
in this color range, which can look both traditional and
modern. The most important aspect for future trends in this
palette is to exhibit a new type of functionalism.
-- Green and brown: Although green is indispensable in a complete
color range offered by automotive manufacturers, demand for it
has dropped considerably in Europe. And stylists' enthusiasm
for the elegant color range of brown has not been shared by
consumers.
Japan
The balance will shift from emphasizing science and technology to humanity for automotive colors in Japan. "The most important aspect of new designs will be to promote the fun of the automobile," said Eiji Fujimori, Manager, Color Design, BASF NOF Coatings. "People should enjoy driving their automobiles, and new vehicle designs can't be too serious. There's a new sense of freedom seen in concept cars developed in Japan calling for new colors and materials. This fresh image can be seen in all the new colors we have developed.
"Also important is a special nuance towards interference of color shift in many palettes, and this supports a trend for a new material appearance," Fujimori added. He forecasted these color developments for the Japanese market:
-- Neutral: These colors are still the most important for Japan,
and will be influenced by a futuristic image achieved by a
smooth appearance that is modified with interference or
color-shift effects. The trend for silvers, including dark
silvers, will grow, as will new smooth black pearl and colored
black shades. A color-shifting white or one that almost looks
like a fluorescent blue white will be important.
-- Beige: Evoking a romantic, tender and comfortable feeling,
this will be an important new color that will be seen on more
Japanese vehicles in the future.
-- Red: This color is not as popular for automobiles in Japan as
in other regions. There may be a slight increase in demand,
but of new interest is pink as a character color. However,
these hues would only be very pale or as a highlight of
silver.
-- Yellow: Vivid yellows promoting a sports car image are
becoming more desirable, especially in pale or light tones,
but this color will remain in specialty uses.
-- Green: Japan will see a revival of green in light tones that
are refreshing and healthy, rather than deep tones.
-- Blue: In all tones, blues are very important. This is
especially true for "clean blues" that have a feeling of sky,
water or light.
-- Purple: Reddish purple has some design interest in very pale
tones or very dark shades.
BASF is the world's largest producer of chemicals and related products. Based in Mount Olive, N.J., BASF Corporation is the North American affiliate of BASF AG (Ludwigshafen, Germany), which is listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the trading symbol "BF." BASF Corporation had sales of $7.9 billion in 2000. BASF in North America employs more than 15,000 people at more than 50 locations, and can be found on the Internet at www.basf.com/usa.
The worldwide coatings segment of BASF has about 10,000 employees and achieved sales of about $2 billion in 2000. With global headquarters in Muenster, Germany, the BASF Coatings Division develops, produces and markets a high-quality range of innovative automotive OEM coatings, automotive refinishes and industrial coatings, as well as the processes needed to apply them. Major markets for this BASF segment are Europe, North and South America, and the Asia/Pacific region.