BASF has released its 2020-2021 Automotive Color Trends collection, featuring a variety of shades and effects that “show the way of modern automotive coatings”.
Every year, the designers at BASF’s Coatings division study future trends which they use as a foundation for the development of surface, texture and colour positions. They say they draw inspiration from many things, including industry, fashion, consumer products and nature. The designers share their research with BASF’s customers – in this case the automotive designers – and help develop the colours of the future.
For the 2020-2021 Automotive Color Trends, the BASF designers created a collection called CODE-X. BASF says the colours, from reimagined whites, the darkest of jet blacks and a variety of colours in-between, serve as an inspiration to automotive designers for vehicles that will be on the road in three to five years. Many of the colours have effects or textures, making them a tactile, visual and emotional experience.
The global ‘key colours’ vary from a greyish green, to a warm beige, to a coarse grey.
BASF says in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), the key colours are soothing, calming colours with bold, new, distinct positions.
“We are in a time when nothing is the same. We may reference the old colours, but add something new, something different,” said Mark Gutjahr, Head of Automotive Color Design, EMEA.
According to BASF, Asia Pacific’s key colours are warm and emotional with a steady mood.
“Individuality is the trend in play here. We live for today and want to make the future better,” said Chiharu Matsuhara, Head of Design, Asia Pacific. “We try to enjoy life and be positive as much as possible and change what we did in the past.”
In North America, BASF says future colour designs “look to build off advancing colorant technologies that exhibit a greater sensitivity to the environment.”
“It’s not unusual to presuppose technological stewardship dominates research, but it’s refreshing to see just how much the consumer is willing to forego traditional norms of beauty in order to satisfy the hunger for smart and responsible colour designs,” said Paul Czornij, Head of Design, the Americas.