In 2025, the global automotive color landscape reflects a clear shift toward individuality and nature-inspired aesthetics seeing consumers continue to move away from traditional favourites, as analysed by BASF Coatings in the latest Colour Report for Automotive OEM Coatings. Green emerged as the strongest growing chromatic signal worldwide, continuing its steady rise and making it into the top three led by blue and red. Once dominant, both colours continue to decline year after year. Blue dropped by one percentage point and red sees an even steeper decrease, making up only three per cent of the total market share. This defines a clear retreat from classic chromatic norms.
Grey recorded a significant increase of two percentage points, strengthening its position as a modern-elegant choice. White showed a slight decline, and black remained strong, but with fewer solid finishes, as overall solid colours dropped to just 18 per cent of the market. This development underscores a global trend that combines timeless elegance with expressive diversity, with green leading the shift toward a more individual and sustainable colour palette.
EMEA: From silver to green – a new chapter for automotive colours
In the Europe, Middle East and African (EMEA) region, the green upward trend continued. Green has overtaken red and established itself as a sign of individuality and sophistication. Silver continued to decline in importance, while black and grey reinforced their positions within the achromatic palette. White showed a slight decrease, but added more nuances to the neutral colour range.
“The green trend was already making waves in EMEA a few years ago. Different shades have been featured in our Automotive Colour Trends collection, hinting at the huge variety of shades we see fitting to this movement today,” head of design EMEA at BASF Coatings, Florina Trost, said.
Americas: Chroma comeback with individual nuances but green in the lead
In the American automotive colour world, 2025 presented a mixed picture: grey was slightly below its 2024 level but still well above 2023. Silver gained importance again, while white continued to decline. The share of coloured car paints has risen by almost two percentage points, showing a stronger preference for expressive colours. While red and blue have historically led in the Americas, shades like green, beige, brown, and violet are now gaining momentum, highlighting a shift toward nature-inspired and diverse aesthetics.
“In 2021, brown and beige have been key colours of our trend collection. The sales now validate these early predictions and illustrate, how long-term trends continue to shape the market,” global head of automotive colour design at BASF Coatings, Mark Gutjahr, said.
Asia Pacific: Grey strengthens as green expands its horizon
In 2025, the Asian Pacific region continued to lean toward achromatic dominance, with grey showing a clear upward trend, while white declined. Black and silver remained stable, reinforcing the enduring appeal of classic neutrals.
Green steadily gained popularity among chromatic colors, while blue dipped slightly. Green’s range now spaned from light, fresh tones to more traditional, natural shades, reflecting a shift toward sustainable and renewal-focused palettes. Though the overall share of chromatic colours decreased, the variety of hues still demonstrated the preference for individuality in Asia Pacific.
“In our past trend forecast, we have introduced a solid-like grey with subtle colour interference and highlighted an urban nuance green for adaptability. Today, grey strengthens while green expands across the region,” head of automotive colour design for Asia Pacific, Chiharu Matsuhara, said.
The Colour Report for Automotive OEM Coatings by BASF Coatings offers an in-depth exploration of colour distribution in the automotive industry, analysing preferences on both global and regional levels.