SHANGHAI--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Axalta Coating Systems, a leading global supplier of liquid and powder coatings, is presenting Destination Color 2016, a portfolio of color choices inspired by changing consumer lifestyles and designed to enable automobile manufacturers to select colors that will fulfill their customers’ preferences and color choices for vehicles in China and around the world.
Axalta’s color trends presented in Destination Color 2016 are grouped into four color destinations that reflect megatrends: Newtopia, Pop_up Zone, Inner State and Cyber Scene that reflect an array of colors for consumers with different personal tastes and styles as well as vehicle preferences.
Newtopia is filled with dream-like colors such as peach, pink shades and muted purple with flake or tricoat pearl effects. The target vehicle segment is small and medium size cars.
“A subset of millennial consumers purchasing vehicles would like these colors as they search for a new look to accentuate their personalities or make a fashion statement with their choice of vehicle color,” said Nancy Lockhart, Global Color Marketing Manager at Axalta who is in China for the Axalta Color Show to present Destination Color 2016 to OEM customers.
“As a color innovation leader, Axalta color experts have for the last 90 years been in the forefront of automotive color design and remained focused on partnering with vehicle manufacturers by keeping a finger on the pulse of industry trends and forecasting the designs and color preferences that will engage consumers in the years to come,” Lockhart added.
Pop_up Zone highlights the brilliant, high chroma colors that are popping up on the roads. Blue hues are trending in medium and dark versions while reds are found in medium shades with a high chroma. Intense reds and blues have global appeal for a range of vehicles. Bright green, teal and yellow are popular with small, sporty cars while orange is gaining popularity with small cars and trucks. Chroma designates particularly rich color hues achieved with specially developed pigments and dispersion technology.
Colors that spread a calming and balanced atmosphere with a homey feel are grouped into Inner State. These include shades of brown, caramel, green, black and dark red, some with a smoky appearance while others are dark with deep chroma. These colors are popular with luxurious high-end vehicle brands.
Neutral colors showcased in the Cyber Scene group remain popular but the colors this year come with a cool factor. These include hints of blue in both the gray and silver neutrals. White continues to reign with sparkling effects, opaque beige and gray, plus new flake effects that dance in the sun for these colors.
Axalta, which celebrates its 150th anniversary in the coating industry this year, established the first-ever Color Advisory Committee 90 years ago to craft colors specifically for cars. Since then, Axalta has remained committed to color technology and innovation. Over the decades, Axalta has built a database of more than seven million colors which provides both original equipment manufacturers and collision repair technicians with one of the most extensive color databases in the world. In addition, for more than 60 years Axalta has published its annual Global Automotive Color Popularity Report that tracks color trends around the world.
China is an important focus for Axalta’s color innovation and technology that delivers beautiful finishes that are durable and protect against harsh weather and the effects of tough road conditions. Axalta has invested in facilities such as its Global Color Lab in Shanghai where color experts work closely with automotive OEMs to create colors that meet local and regional demands while analyzing market trends for color preferences.
About Axalta Coating Systems – Celebrating 150 Years in the Coatings Industry
Axalta is a leading global company focused solely on coatings and providing customers with innovative, colorful, beautiful and sustainable solutions. From light OEM vehicles, commercial vehicles and refinish applications to electric motors, buildings and pipelines, our coatings are designed to prevent corrosion, increase productivity and enable the materials we coat to last longer. With 150 years of experience in the coatings industry, the 12,800 people of Axalta continue to find ways to better serve our more than 100,000 customers in 130 countries every day with the finest coatings, application systems and technology. For more information visit axaltacoatingsystems.com and follow us on Twitter @axalta and on LinkedIn.
