TROY, Mich. October 27, Dee-Ann Durbin writing for the AP reported that only a handful of people know what new vehicles will look like in 2009. But automotive paint supplier PPG Industries Inc. already has a good idea what colors those vehicles will be.

Blue will get more popular in the next four years as more dramatic shades are introduced, such as watery blue-greens and smoky lilacs. Yellows and oranges will get richer and warmer. Reds will glow in deep shades of cranberry and wine, and dark brown will make a comeback.

"Not everything in here is gospel, but it's a general direction," said Lorene Boettcher, PPG's manager of global design and color marketing, as she stood amid dozens of swatches of color at the company's suburban Detroit office.

Each fall, Pittsburgh-based PPG hosts a color tour for auto industry officials so they can look at upcoming trends and choose colors they can refine further in their own studios. General Motors Corp. and DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group are among PPG's largest automotive customers. The show travels the world for the next nine months.

Future colors are identified from trends in fashion, interior design, architecture and even cosmetics, Boettcher said. As hybrid vehicles get more popular, drivers may be looking for earthy, natural tones. Redwood, a trend in home furnishing, is inspiring natural shades of red. Luxury makers, always looking for ways set their vehicles apart, might choose rich blends that change slightly depending on the light or paints with flecks of silver-coated glass.

PPG has 20 colorists in North America, Europe, Japan, South Korea, China, Malaysia, India and Australia. They work separately to identify trends and then bring all their ideas together for the show. This year's show features 130 new colors.

Silver is the worldwide favorite right now, making up 37 percent of vehicles produced. White is second at 14.4 percent. Blue and black are right behind, at 12.7 percent and 11 percent. Red, green, beige and other shades each command less than 10 percent of the market.

Silver will remain popular for several more years, Boettcher said, and PPG is trying to enhance it by experimenting with blends like silvery green and technology that makes paint look like liquid metal.

Each region has its quirks. North America likes paint colors that are more conservative but with sparkly flecks, although the colors are brighter than they were a decade ago, Boettcher said. Emerging Asian markets like bright, hopeful colors, including red and gold.

"All of our customers are always looking for the next brighter red," said Jerry Koenigsmark, manager of automotive color design for North America. Koenigsmark said new technology, such as red-coated flakes of aluminum, are helping the company achieve that goal.

In Europe, the palette is larger, less sparkly and funkier. Because cars there are smaller, automakers experiment with colors like pink and kelly green. Blacks tinted with red and green also are growing in popularity.

Boettcher said natural tones will be a hit, including leathery browns and sophisticated, muted metallics. One color she showed was inspired by cappuccino, others by burlap and handmade dye.

Many auto executives have steered away from brown because it was a popular color when the industry went through tough times in the 1970s, she said. But that will start to change.

"That is something that's going to start at the high end and work its way down to the mainstream," Boettcher said.

PPG Industries Inc.: http://www.ppg.com

source : theautochannel
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Silver will remain popular because to many, it hides dirt well & doesn't require cleaning as frequent. I find silver cars to be very boring for most models & would like to see them experimenting with blends like silvery green etc. to make it more interesting.

 

One issue with automotive colors that needs addressing but has been ignored by this article is the need for more two-tones.....fewer and fewer of them are available each year, even among vehicles like the Outback, RAV4, Santa Fe, Forester, etc.....that were known for two-tone jobs ( and some real two-tones, too, not just vinyl body cladding ) The industry won't admit it, but I think it is just a clandestine way to count beans....fewer paint colors means lower costs.

 

Great read. Looking forward to new and diferent colors. Not all that big on browns, but I remember back in the mid 90's when they were very popular. I love black, more specifically metallic blacks. Those are really nice and they hide fine scratches better than say a flat black. My next car though, I might swtich to a red, or maybe a gray.

 

Light browns, tans, and beiges are probably the easiest colors to keep clean....they are the same color as most of the dust and dirt that accumulates.

 

Not always eye-catching, but practical, they go well with light-colored cream and fawn interiors. Black interiors can be pretty claustrophobic and show every speck of dust.

I've really grown tired of all of the gray varients including silver, pewter, "argent", and other appellations for gray. They all start to look like "primer gray" after a while. Maybe I've developed an allergy to "Haze Gray" - I expect everything painted with it to sport at least a pair of 5" gun mounts and a signal bridge.

 

I'm with Lil4X on this. There are so many silver cars on the road now they are nearly invisible. If you want to speed and NOT be noticed, silver is perfect (sorry silver guys). And how many variations do we need? Pewter Silver, Titanium Silver, Smoke Silver... sheesh!

I'm ready to see more variations on blue (but I am partial). I tend to like vivid, primary colors.
I currently have a blue car, a red one, and a green one (green was fashionable in the 90s when I had that car painted). Of course, I am somewhat of an extrovert...

 

Thanks for the tip, SoCal. I didn't know that radar and laser were that color-sensitive.

 

In that case, speeders should paint their cars with non-reflective materials, like coal or something.

 

thoughts on the color ..copper

 

2006 SC430 Pebble Beach anyone? (Still not digging it personally.)

 

In that case, the hell with paint.....just leave the PRIMER on.

 

name the car ..

 

AMC Concord.

A somewhat jacked-up version of that car, called the Eagle, in 1980-81 was the first passenger car in history to have AWD and a viscous-type center differential...a design that did not win many converts at first due to AMC's traditionally poor quality and reliability, but eventually revolutionized the industry and ultimately gave us many of today's car-based AWD vehicles.

The smaller, white car to the right appears to be an Eagle SX4, a smaller AWD 2-door version based on the older AMC Gremlin chassis.

 

I saw that tiger eye mica in person & I like it. A pretty unique color, in a good way IMO

My favorite new color for the SC430 is the Matador Red though

 

Yes, you got that right....the matador red and the pearl white are probably the two best colors Lexus is currently selling.