BASF’s 2019 vehicle color choices reflect Detroit’s urban revitalization, water management and baby boomer preferences

• New automotive colors in the 2015-2016 “RAW” collection focus on originality and authenticity
• Urban revitalization inspired brighter, more varied colors and deep, saturated blues
• Striking textures bring visual haptics to coating surfaces

SOUTHFIELD, MI – July 27, 2015 -- BASF's new trend collection features 65 global automotive paint colors for 2019 and beyond. The colors explore the powerful potential of Real Authentic Ways (RAW). This overarching theme emerged from trend findings that society is focused on simplicity, authenticity and optimism for the future.

In North America the revitalization of urban environments, specifically Detroit, inspires brighter and more varied color choices.

“The BASF global designers met in Detroit in 2014 to explore the raw, re-emerging urban spaces throughout the city,” said Paul Czornij, Technical Manager for the BASF Color Excellence Group. “They were inspired by the resounding feeling of positivity, resilience and optimism from all the people they interacted with at sites such as Eastern Market and the Packard Plant.”  

Local Color Trends

The five local theme colors available to North America automakers for model year 2019 are:

Perforated - a deep red woven with brilliant golds calls forth a special interplay of warm, glowing and radiating effects.

Golden Cavalcade - a luminous gold reflects the resurgence of powerful cities like Detroit. The color transcends traditional applications and represents people redefining themselves.

Spectator - a brighter silver exudes the promise of the future.  Polished metals show what the power of ingenuity and cross-generational attitudes can achieve.

Bucket O’ Blu - a rich blue illustrates a focus on water as the most precious resource to humanity and releases a powerful and beautiful energy.

Downpour - a strong blue green, this color has the inclusion of a specific pigment technology designed to mimic the look of rain.

“While exploring Detroit, the importance of water in urban environments became a clear focus and contributed to the strong prevalence of blues in this year’s color predictions.” said Czornij. “Water is the definition of raw and it has a beautiful, sustaining effect. The saturated and cool color blue is intended to be a soothing balance to today’s hectic pace of life.”

Another focus in this year’s color trends is the importance of the baby boomer generation. In the past, people ages 55 and over have been somewhat overlooked in terms of color trend prediction. This year they played a larger, more influential role.  More playful, neutral colors were included in the predictions as a result.      

The RAW color collection demonstrates how the call for more brand rather than more marketing can be implemented in automotive colors in the future.  For instance, in the coming years, colors will employ striking textures to enhance a car's character and support and accentuate its geometric shapes. They will give surfaces a more tactile appearance -- either literally, by means of new concepts that use a perceptibly rough coating -- or visually, through the coarse granulation of the pigments.

Download photo on right, suggested caption: In North America bright golds and deep blues focus on people redefining themselves. A brighter silver holds more promise for the future.

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

BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has more than 17,000 employees in North America, and had sales of $20.6 billion in 2014. For more information about BASF’s North American operations, visit www.basf.us.

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. Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.

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