Seeing the world in black and white with DuPont

Black is Europe's favourite car colour but the rest of the world loves white and silver best, according to the DuPont Automotive Colour Popularity report.

The DuPont Automotive Colour Popularity report was first launched in 1952, and has been recording the palette trends of the automotive industry worldwide ever since.

Lindsey Swaine, brand marketing coordinator, DuPont Refinish UK and Ireland, said: “This report is eagerly awaited each year by our bodyshops as it provides a good indication of the colours that might be coming through the spraybooth doors."

The 2011 document, released this month, announced that black and black effect colours have maintained their lead as the most popular in Europe. They have a 25 per cent share overall – 40 per cent alone in the luxury and luxury SUV segment. These dark tones have led the region since 2007 and DuPont experts predict that their dominance will continue into the near future.

Runner-up in Europe was white/white pearl, which made a surge of about five percentage points over 2010 figures, to reach a 20 per cent share. According to DuPont this is primarily due to the popularity of solid white across all model segments.

Ann De Clerck, colour marketing manager DuPont Refinish, EMEA, says "White increasingly represents modern minimalism and future technology and is an inspiration for the ecological megatrend in Europe." This continued emergence of white/white pearl sees it surpass its rivals black and grey globally to join silver as joint top in the world colour ranking in this year's report.

In Europe, grey (18 per cent) and silver (15 per cent) decreased in popularity and blue rounded out the top five colours with seven per cent of the vehicle market.

Swaine added: “In addition to the report, DuPont develops an annual colour trend show for the world's leading automotive manufacturers as they seek to develop colour palettes for future vehicles. This is an invaluable source for our colour team at DuPont Refinish as it enables us to identify new colours and trends before they even hit the market. We are able to supply the relevant refinish colours to the aftermarket quickly – helping our bodyshops be as productive as possible. It is only through our close links to DuPont OEM coatings that we are able to do this."

Source: ABP Club