PPG Industries, a manufacturer of transportation coatings, reported that white topped all colors as most popular for vehicles globally.

The company reported that 21 percent of 2011 model-year cars worldwide were white.

Close behind were silver and black, which tied for second most popular at 20 percent, according to the Pittsburgh-based company.

In North America, white was first (20 percent), silver was second (19 percent), black was third (18 percent) and gray was fourth (15 percent). Red and blue were tied for fifth (9 percent), naturals such as browns, tans, golds, oranges and yellows were sixth (7 percent), green was seventh (2 percent), and other/niche colors were last (1 percent).

In Europe, black is the most popular color (26 percent), followed by white (19 percent), silver (16 percent), gray (15 percent), blue (9 percent), red (7 percent), naturals (5 percent), green (2 percent) and other/niche colors (1 percent).

In the Asia/Pacific region, silver (25 percent) is the most popular color, followed by white (23 percent), black (17 percent), gray (8 percent), red (10 percent), blue (7 percent), naturals (7 percent), green (2 percent) and other/niche colors (1 percent).

At this year's annual Automotive Color Trend Show held at PPG's offices in Troy, Mich., the coatings company presented its ideas for future vehicle colors. Titled "Expression," the show highlights the influences of insights from PPG's other color- and coatings-oriented businesses. PPG's global automotive OEM coatings business works closely with the company's other businesses to gain insights related to coloring a wide range of products such as cell phones, laptop computers, large appliances, homes, buildings, airplanes, ships and heavy equipment.

"Color is one of the most basic means of human expression," said Jane E. Harrington, PPG manager, color styling, automotive coatings. "The palette of colors being developed for the automotive segment is being influenced by culture, nature, fashion, interior design, media, auto shows, color popularity and new pigment technology."

PPG also recently completed an online study of consumer opinions regarding the importance of coatings and color as they relate to new car purchases. Some key findings of the survey are:

• About 48 percent of the automotive consumers who responded said they generally choose products based on color.
• Seventy-seven percent of the automotive consumers said exterior color was a factor in their automotive purchase decision.
• Vehicle color is an important factor in the choice of vehicle, according to 30 percent of the automotive consumers. The same percentage - about 31 percent - of the automotive consumers said they are willing to pay extra for a vehicle that expresses their personality through color.
• Owners of large luxury cars, sporty cars and large premium SUVs said they are willing to pay the most extra to get the color of their choice.
• Forty percent of the automotive consumers said they would prefer a wider range of color choices.

"Our consumer research has clearly shown that color is critically important to car buyers," Harrington said. "It's why we do what we do. But more importantly, it's why PPG puts so much effort into researching, evaluating and understanding trends as they relate to color."

In addition to color trend forecasting, PPG is continuing to develop new paint technologies that offer automotive design options to enhance appearance and help automobile manufacturers differentiate their brands.

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