Created by color experts for automotive designers: BASF Coatings' Global Trend Book

• Sixty-five trend colors and in-depth background information on global and regional color trends
• Numerous international awards attest to the book's high design standards

Inspiration and information: Every year, BASF Coatings' Global Trend Book presents 65 new trend colors for automotive OEM coating. In addition to original color samples from the new paint collection, it also offers the carmakers' designers in-depth background information about the trends and their developments.

A special feature of the book is its design concept, which is adapted to the collection's trend topic every year and weaves its way throughout the publication as a theme. The Global Trend Book was designed by BASF's Global Design Team, which consists of 11 designers worldwide in close cooperation with the agencies ARE WE DESIGNER and RAUM MANNHEIM. The book is the main communication medium of BASF Coatings' designers and has received numerous international design awards in recent years, including the Red Dot Award, the iF Award and the Horizon Award.

The color designers compile the book's content from their trend research in North and South America, Asia and Europe. "We work with trend worlds. This means that we focus our trend analysis on three defined areas: technology, society and individuality. It enables us to meticulously follow global developments. "What's happening here? Where are attitudes, living habits or technical possibilities in flux?" explained Astrid Van der Auwera, Global Strategic Marketing at BASF's Coatings division.

After an intensive analysis, the designers filter out important trend aspects and define six trend worlds. Regional color trends and global developments from the areas of technology, society or individuality are presented in six specifically designed trend booklets. "This layout allows us to present globally relevant trend colors and address the requirements in regional markets," explained Mark Gutjahr, Head of Design Europe at BASF Coatings. In this way, the book provides the carmakers' color and trim designers with access to a solid basis for their color decisions, which they will see on the roads in three to five years. The color presentation is supported by the newly designed 3D panels. The special geometry of the panels enables the color and special-effect behavior of the paint to be simulated on the body and to be evaluated in a differentiated manner.

The current trend book, entitled "RAW", will be revealed together with the color trends in late July and will be presented to the carmakers' designers at exclusive customer-specific events.

About BASF’s Coatings division
BASF’s Coatings division develops, produces and markets innovative automotive coatings, automotive refinishes and industrial coatings as well as decorative paints. We operate sites in Europe, North America and South America as well as Asia Pacific. Within this network, we collaborate closely with our customers all over the world. In 2014, the Coatings division achieved global sales of about €3 billion. More information about the division is available at www.basf-coatings.com.

About BASF
At BASF, we create chemistry – and have been doing so for 150 years. Our portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. As the world’s leading chemical company, 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 over €74 billion in 2014 and around 113,000 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.

P-15-287