Published October 11, 2012
By Philippe Crowe
Ever wondered why so many green cars seen on the roads around you are either silver or white?
Yesterday PPG Industries released its annual automotive color popularity and trend data, and these results will help you understand the color choices customers are faced with when buying a car.
While white retained the leading spot as the most popular car color based on 2012 automotive build data, PPG forecasts that the overall use of color is on the rise.
According to PPG’s annual survey of global color popularity, white ranked first (22 percent) and silver was second (20 percent), followed by black (19 percent), gray (12 percent), red (9 percent), natural (8 percent), blue (7 percent), green (2 percent) and other colors (1 percent).
“Color is one of the first characteristics noticed in product design, and it is increasingly being used in everyday items, from cell phones to large appliances, based largely on automotive trends,” said Jane E. Harrington, PPG manager, color styling, automotive OEM (original equipment manufacturer) coatings. “The palette being developed for the automotive segment continues to be influenced by culture, nature, fashion, interior design, color popularity and new pigment technology.”
With this in mind, PPG is developing new shades to appear on 2015-2016 model year designs. These included colors such as: Al Fresco, a silver metallic with fresh green tint; Victoria Grey, a classic grey with an iridescent highlight of gold metal; Opulence, a refined red pearl with intense jewel tone; Glacier, an icy graphite grey with a slight violet blue tone; Sunshine, a bright high-sparkle intense yellow; and Elixir, a metallic mixture of silver and magenta.
“Our consumer research has clearly shown that color is critically important to car buyers,” Harrington said.
In addition to color trend forecasting, PPG continues to develop paint technologies that offer automotive design options for enhancing appearance and helping automobile manufacturers differentiate their brands, according to Harrington. “For example, metallic flake effects have become increasingly popular. A classic color such as blue can be updated with a high-sparkle glass flake or a fine bright aluminum to create more of a liquid or silk appearance,” she said.
Regional details regarding PPG’s 2012 automotive color popularity data
In North America, white ranks first (21 percent), followed by black (19 percent), silver and gray (16 percent each), red (10 percent), blue (8 percent), natural (7 percent) and green (3 percent).
In Europe, white is also most popular (23 percent), followed by black (21 percent), gray (17 percent), silver (13 percent), blue, natural and red (7 percent each), other colors (3 percent) and green (2 percent).
In the Asia Pacific region, silver and white tied for most popular (23 percent each), followed by black (19 percent), natural (10 percent), red (9 percent), gray (8 percent), blue (7 percent) and green (1 percent).
