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6 августа 2014 г.

Greens gaining ground

  • BASF designers’ forecast comes to life in the current automotive trend collection
  • Global relevance, regional implementation

Progress and purposefulness are characterizing the automotive world’s color mood. The colors in this year’s BASF trend collection entitled “Making Headway” are predicting this positive outlook ahead. “With new technologies, new models and new mobility concepts, a shift in values is on the horizon. In this context, green as the color of growth and a new beginning is playing a key role,” explained Mark Gutjahr, Head of Design Europe at BASF.

BASF designers already identified this color trend in its early stages last year, and it is now gaining ground. After more than one low-color decade in which black, silver, white and, more recently, brown made their mark on the roads, the automotive landscape is now becoming more colorful.

Green leaving its eco-image behind

The fact that the green color range is securing its position in the automotive future does not stem from its logical connection to ecology and the image of pristine nature. The new greens that will be applied to cars in the coming three or four years are making a point of leaving their eco-image behind. “We are not finding answers to questions about society’s value shift in a romanticizing ‘back to nature’ vision, but instead in intelligent solutions and technologies,” so Gutjahr. In this context, green stands for new values such as straightforwardness, responsibility and individuality, as well as for harmony and balance, which are becoming increasingly important factors in society.

Global trend with regional colors

The global context is lending ever more importance to questions of individuality. Green is setting the trend for bold automotive colors and is reinforcing a move toward more color-based differentiation. On the other hand, in its research, BASF’s global design team has identified clear regional differences. Even if the green theme is globally relevant, its manifestations in Asia Pacific, North America and Europe are highly varied. The design language in Europe is characterized by soberness and quality, which translates into colors in the portfolio which are balanced and detailed yet bold. Dark green and emeralds exhibit highly intricate structures and moderately used effects. Rich greens are refined by golden highlights. While Europe is experiencing the quest for new values, in Asia, topics such as nature, relaxation and harmony have a strong impact on this color range. In Asia, subtle but multifaceted automotive colors are anticipated. For instance, vibrant pastels serve to offset the gray of the big cities. The wide range of the trend color is clearly demonstrated by the color portfolio in North America. Clarity and directness characterize the colors used there. In addition, the green-yellow color range is playing an increasingly important role with colors such as ‘lemon’.

Time for more color

The wide variety of the new greens also clearly demonstrates that automotive colors now have more room for flexibility. New effect categories and topics such as haptics and mat coatings will make this even more possible in the future. At the same time, they will also pose new requirements, in terms of both technology and design. Gutjahr recognizes the opportunity afforded by the complexity. “New methods and pigments will allow us to implement innovations such as BASF’s new ‘XSpark’ effect category.” Here, the use of new effect pigments ensures a striking glitter that makes a clearer, cleaner and more intensive impact than all previous effects. The distinct sparkle is particularly effective in light, which has an elegant impact without being overbearing. “XSpark has a lot of potential,” explained Gutjahr, sharing his positive view of the future. “And it’s about time for us to have more color!”

About the Coatings Division

In the Coatings Division, BASF develops, produces and markets a high-quality range of innovative automotive OEM coatings, automotive refinishes and industrial coatings as well as decorative paints. BASF has significant market positions in the Coatings sector in Europe, North America, South America and the Asia Pacific region. In 2012 the Coatings Division of the BASF Group achieved global sales of nearly 3,0 billion Euros. The internet address is www.basf-coatings.com. You can download a copy of BASF customer magazine Coatings Partner from www.coatingspartner.com

About BASF
BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. We combine economic success with environmental protection and social responsibility. Through science and innovation, we enable our customers in nearly every industry to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring nutrition and improving quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF had sales of €72.1 billion in 2012 and more than 110,000 employees as of the end of the year. BASF shares are traded on the stock exchanges in Frankfurt (BAS), London (BFA) and Zurich (AN). Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.

 

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Последнее обновление 6 августа 2013 г.