cars. However, our own involvement in
the OEM markets in places like China
and other emerging markets is small.”
AkzoNobel has seen some encour-
aging signs from its Automotive Plastic
Coatings (APC) business. The company
reported that last year for APC was its
best year in North America.
“Besides providing paints for plastic parts, we have some fairly exclusive
arrangements to provide coatings to
a few high-end and specialty OEMs,”
said Michelsen. “Undoubtedly, the most
important one is with McLaren. That
started out as a partnership to develop
high-performance coatings for their
Formula 1 race cars, but we have expanded the partnership and we’re now
the exclusive provider of coatings for
their road cars. Of course, McLaren is not a typical OEM, and the
McLaren MP4-12C sports car is not a typical mass-produced motor car, so it doesn’t tell you much about the general OEM market.
APC also provides coatings to Chrysler for its Viper – another high-end sports car. But in the rarified atmosphere of high performance
sports cars – which can also serve as showcases for OEMs, there’s
at least enough confidence to invest in some very exciting cars with
bodies made of plastics and composites that require very different
paints than what you get on the family car.”
Latest Trends
Cars and trucks definitely are eye-catching, and one way that
automakers look to expand their sales is through colors and
special effects.
“An interesting development is the increasing use of multi-
layer systems, where you have a ground color and then effect
colors on top of that,” said Michelsen. “Technically, these sys-
tems present OEMs with some challenges, because their lines
are not necessarily set up to apply multi-layer systems. The Tier
1 providers of parts – some of which are our APC customers –
also need to adjust their production lines to accommodate these
new systems. Two other trends worth mentioning are the trend
towards matte finishes, though that’s more of a niche market,
and the use of tinted clearcoat technology, which is something
else that I think may grow in importance. Both GM and Ford
have shown interest, so we’ll keep an eye on that.”
Automakers have been facing their own financial pressures
due to the global economic downturn, and coatings can help
them contain costs.
“Automakers are looking for improved efficiency in the coat-
ings process so products that allow them to lower energy costs
or shrink the footprint of the paint shop are most important,”
said Schmondiuk. “That is why we are seeing the proliferation
of coatings that eliminate an oven or part of the spray process.
This trend will continue.”
When it comes to colors, automakers face an interesting
dilemma: some people prefer to stick with the tried and true tra-
ditional palette, while other consumers want the latest options.
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