But how do you differentiate your paint from your competitors. As far as consumers are concerned, the only differences most will appreciate is the brand and price point. The manufacturers / OEM clients will have their production / body paint experts that can tell one shade from another but one can't just rely on OEM clients as vehicle collision body repairs and after-market body painting is a huge business, especially in the growing developing markets where lifespan of cars tend to be longer than developed markets of North America / Europe / Japan.
DuPont uses a novel marketing approach by releasing an annual colour popularity report as an alternative way to brand DuPont as a trusted authority in automotive paints. This year's 2008 Automotive Colour Popularity Report has just been released. For the full press release go here.
Below are some of the summaries for the main automotive markets of Asia-Pacific region.
Silver and black remains the traditional favourites across most markets but in the long term DuPont expects silver and light gray shades to be going out of fashion. White is the new black. Popularity of white and white effects (pearl / iridescent) continue to gain popularity in most markets, especially in North America and India. White also leads in Japan, but nothing surprising about that as white has been the dominant colour for many salarymen Corollas and senior management Crowns for many years. The Japanese must be wondering what's with the world's latest infatuation with the most safe and boring car colour.
The only market that bucks the "white" trend is China. Chinese car owners didn't caught up to the "white is the new black" fad.
The "other" China - India has a different story though. White is the most popular colour there but take note also the relative popularity of red against other main car markets in the region.
Visit here for more colour popularity charts of other markets.
DuPont also mentions that blue is slowly gaining popularity, inline with the industry's increasing focus on environmentally friendly theme. DuPont suggests that Blue is particularly suitable for car models which makes a strong environmentally friendly theme, or even for lifestyle oriented vehicles like compact SUVs.
White is the new black. An E92 BMW M3 Coupe in Alpine White paint.
Blue to be the new green? Toyota FJ Cruiser in Voodoo Blue.
3 comments:
Apparently Silver is still one of the most popular colors despite being the most boring (Silver is chosen by people who knows nothing about cars). This is because Silver commands a higher resale value than a car painted in say, red or green, in the 2nd hand car market. I don't know if it applies to our local 2nd hand car market though.
Oh yes it applies.
My dad's car is valued 3k lower because it is not silver.
Silver might not be the most popular colour in every market, but it easily counts among the top 3 in every market. I guess if you were to chart a "bell curve" of consumer preference - conservative styles will be the large fat center. How many wants to potter around in a bright yellow car?
Residue value is a function of demand. Those blue / gold E46 M3 don't hold their value so well against the black ones.
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