Paint Trend Fluid, BASF Says

Early indications are consumers and auto makers are taking a shine to paint with less sparkle in favor of sheet metal with a “liquid-metal” look, says coatings manufacturer BASF.

Currently, the effect can be achieved with an aftermarket product, while Ford soon will launch at least two vehicles with a near-liquid-metal finish, says Paul Czornij, technical manager-color excellence. A Honda Civic concept featured the unique look at this year’s Detroit auto show in January.

Honda Civic concept, unveiled at 2011 Detroit auto show, featured liquid-look paint.

But early adopters must first steel themselves, he warns.

“You need application conditions and you need paint technology (and) paint formulation that maybe are quite different,” Czornij tells Ward’s. And that means added cost.

BASF is developing paint and application improvements to accommodate the unique arrangement of tiny aluminum flakes required to produce the effect.

“If you can get them to lay down next to each other, they form almost a continuous film,” Czornij says, adding the supplier is seeking “a good home” for the technology.

Disinterest in sparkly finishes is an extension of society’s enthrallment with technology, the same fascination that has made “non-chromatic” colors such as gray and silver longtime favorites with car buyers around the world, he adds.

“You have to think of what silver evokes, psychologically,” Czornij says. “That feel and that link to technology are expressed very nicely in silver.”

His remarks come as BASF releases a report on global color trends. The document indicates earth tones as well as vibrant colors are rising in popularity, while matte finishes – already on the market in Europe – are verging on a breakthrough in North America.

“Mercedes is active with it,” he tells Ward’s, referring to January’s Detroit auto show where the tri-star brand displayed matte-finish versions of the E550 Cabrio, S400 Hybrid, CL550C4 and SL550.

For some, matte finishes also suggest advanced technology, while affording greater freedom for designers.

“You can put it into a white, a green, a black,” Czornij says. “So you have a lot of possibilities.”

While they also are polarizing because of their resemblance to primer, he expects to see a trickle of matte-finish products in North America within the next 12 months.

“We’re working with some OEMs on a couple of color spaces,” Czornij says. “Everybody’s experimenting with this. It could be that’s not for the entire car body. It might just be part. It might be the decklid or it might just be the hood.”

The ’11 Dodge Challenger R/T can be had with a matte-black stripe package.

Czornij expresses surprise at the enduring popularity of non-chromatic colors, which it lists as silver, gray, black and white. Combined, they account for up to 70% of the vehicle colors in some markets.

Meanwhile, green is in the red. Once accounting for up to 25% of some markets, “it’s fallen way off,” Czornij says. “We’re not styling with green colors.”

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