Color trends 2010: Black in the fast lane

Jan. 19, 2010 - PRLog -- Black is the most popular European automotive color accounting for 27 percent of all first time registrations. Beside black, silver, grey and white, blue is the only chromatic color among the top 5. This is the result of the current Standox trend report which analyses the major automotive colors every year in order to identify color trends and highlight likely changes in the range of automotive colors on our roads.

For the next couple of years, there is no move towards more colorful cars on European. Deep black and elegant white continue to grow somewhat compared to the previous year, and while blue is the only chromatic color to score above ten percent, even this is down 2.5 percent compared to the previous report. The conclusion: While fashion and other areas of daily life vibrate with color, European consumers continue to prefer conservative shades when it comes to buying a car. People obviously feel that the technological status, modernity and economic value of a vehicle are best expressed by black, silver and grey shades. Apparently the typically long periods of ownership and the high financial value of a car do not leave much room for colorful experiments during the current economic uncertainties.

However, the picture may become a little more colorful over the years if environmentally friendlier electric, hybrid and gas-powered vehicles continue their advance. After all, “green” choices no longer mean reduction and renunciation but luxury and elegance, too. In this segment, the designers favour natural colors like beige and light blue, a discreet green and a deep, warm brown. Brown managed to rise by two percentage points in this year’s statistics, capturing a respectable four percent. Together with red, brown makes up almost ten percent of the automotive color range in Europe. At the bottom of the ranking, there are green, violet, yellow and orange which pop up only occasionally on our streets as expressions of individualism and personal style.

It goes without saying that designers continue to experiment with automotive colors, taking inspiration from the more lively arts and culture scenes. Strong, daring colors such as toxic yellow and red-pink combinations catch the eye with extraordinary chromatic color ”flips”. Extreme sparkle effects in icy blue and dark violet are sometimes used for extra attention.

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Standox is one of Europe’s leading manufacturers of car refinishing paints. With its headquarters in Wuppertal, Germany, the company offers innovative and environmentally compatible product systems worldwide.