Silver The Most Popular Car Color Worldwide

The annual survey of consumer preferences, conducted by the Global Design & Color Marketing Team at PPG, found approximately one-third of the vehicles produced in the leading automotive markets -- North America, Europe and Japan -- were silver.

"The technology orientation of consumers in North America, Europe and Japan -- as well as the use of silver in home interior, fashion and architectural design -- has helped boost the global popularity of silver for vehicles," said Lorene C. Boettcher, manager, global design and color marketing for the automotive coatings business unit of PPG. "In addition, silver is a very versatile color that is attractive across all vehicle lines."

Consumers' preference for silver and other neutral shades continues to grow, Boettcher said. They have exceeded white in North America and blue in Europe, and matched the perennial popularity of white in Japan for the 2002 model year.

Advances in coatings technology have also helped to drive silver's popularity -- by generating a wide spectrum of special effects and appearances.

"Silver can highlight the hard edges and soft lines of a vehicle's design and can take on several different effects -- from very bright and reflective to subtle and sophisticated -- based on the size and type of metallic flakes contained in the coating," said Jerry R. Koenigsmark, manager of color design, North America for the automotive coatings business unit of PPG. "Globally, for the 2002 model year, we saw very bright silver shades, which are often more appropriate for hard-edge, modern or high-tech vehicle designs."

Based on data compiled by PPG, the most popular vehicle colors for the 2002 model year for the three leading automotive markets were:

North America Europe Japan

1. Silver/gray (22%) Silver/gray (40%) Silver/gray (35%)

2. White (16%) Blue (19%) White (35%)

3. Red (14%) Black (13%) Black (9%)

4. Blue (13%) Green (9%) Blue (8%)

5. Naturals* (13%) Red (9%) Red (5%)

6. Black (10%) White (6%) Others (5%)

7. Green (8%) Naturals* (3%) Green (2%)

8. Others (4%) Others (1%) Naturals* (1%)

Naturals include gold, copper, champagnes and lighter shades of brown and yellow

The Global Design & Color Marketing Team -- which comprises 20 colorists in North America, Japan, Europe, South America, India, Australia, South Africa, Malaysia, Taiwan, Korea and China -- expects silver will remain a staple of automakers' color palettes for the next several years because consumers' choices in vehicle colors tend to evolve -- rather than change from year to year.

For more than 20 years, PPG has tracked automotive color trends and the latest technical information to support automakers worldwide as they select and develop colors that enhance the brand identity and image of their vehicles. PPG surveyed approximately 22 automakers from around the world to compile its 2002 color trend data.

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 major 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$8.2 billion last year.