Europe
PPG claims to be the world leader
in the global OEM coatings market,
ahead of the other two main players,
BASF and Axalta Coatings Systems. It
has over 50 car manufacturing customers, a high proportion of them active in
the European market.
By 2025 the global automotive
industry would be producing 106. 5
million vehicles annually, partly as a
result of 70 percent growth in Asia,
By 2019 the numbers of new vehicle
launches will reach 137, 20 percent
higher than in 2015, William Brunat,
PPG‘s technical director for Europe,
told journalists citing figures from the
consultancy IHS Markit.
These rising number of launches
would bring “increased complexity and
market pressure on automakers and on
their supplies,” he warned.
PPG, which reckons that it already has
more technology platforms for its OEM
coatings than its competitors, is expanding into new areas like autonomous cars,
digitalization and battery coatings.
It considers that there are five big
innovation drivers in OEM coatings:
safety and security, like light-weighting
and autonomous systems; environment,
covering emissions and toxic chemicals;
asset protection, such as corrosion and
scratch resistance; energy and costs;
and comfort and leisure, covering color
and functionality.
“Our number one priority is the envi-
ronment to make sure that what we sup-
ply is clean and sustainable,” said Brunat.
“After that the priority is helping to re-
duce costs and make savings.”
The new technological directions the
company is taking are shown by the prod-
ucts it has recently commercialized, those
under development and those which are
subject to feasibility studies.
Among the recently launched products
have been functionality coatings such as
one which dampens sounds inside vehicles to provide quieter driving and the
world’s first scratch-resistant clearcoat
developed with Mercedes.
PPG is also helping to extend the digi-
talization of OEM paint shops by intro-
ducing a computer tablet with software,
called Performa, which paint shop staff
will use to collect and analyze data.
“The analysis will optimize the paint
shop’s output in terms of energy consumption, materials savings and quality,”
said Brunat.
Those coatings under development
include electric vehicle battery coatings
which use graphene to enhance conductivity, coatings with Light Detection
And Ranging (LIDAR) properties which
determine the direction of autonomous
vehicles, tire barrier coatings and easy-to-clean (E2C) automotive coatings.
Among the new technologies on which
PPG is conducting feasibility studies are
intelligent surfaces, 3D additive manufacturing, thermally conductive inks and
polyurea chemistry.
In the development of colors, PPG
has continued to exploit its nanotech
expertise in the shaping and sizing of
particles which create different strengths
and grades of color.
“We are continually looking to im-
prove the processing of pigments, par-
ticularly in the ways they are ground,”
explained Reine Mueller-Koerber, PPG’s
color styling technical manager in Europe.
“We are aiming for cleaner colors and
pigments which behave like dyes.”
In its current prediction of color
trends, PPG believes that there will be
greater variety of preferences. There
will be a continued adherence to tradi-
tional colors based on the appearance
of natural materials such as wood,
marble and stone.
“White continues to be popular but
it is becoming a colder, more technical
white,” said Daniele Nicoletti, another
PPG specialist. “With some groups of
car owners there is a growing preference
for clearer, brighter colors.”
PPG’s Andaro dispersions system,
using nano scale particles, helps PPG
provide coatings with a greater con-
centration of pigment and hence col-
or intensity.
“Andaro gives an extra 20-30 per-
cent of brightness, 50 percent more color
and extra depth,” said Mueller-Koerber.
“We are seeing some unexpected vivid
colors become popular like different
shades of yellow. A big liking for or-
ange has been surprising. Also red is
continuing to rise in popularity.”
In Europe the choice of colors by
purchasers is depending on the size
and shape of the car, with white con-
tinuing to the most preferred in most
categories. The exceptions are gray
in luxury autos and black in midsized
ones, according to PPG Global Color
Trends 2016.
Buyers of SUVs seem to like color the
most with 28 percent selecting chromatic
colors. In the midsize category the choice
of chromatic colors rose from 18 percent to 22 percent last year. With compact
cars 19 percent preferred blue or red.
“We have been seeing changes in
what is influencing people’s color preferences with cars,” explained Mueller-
Koerber. “Fashion in clothes is no longer
a leading force. Consumer electronics
and furniture are having more of an im-
pact. But these don’t dictate long term
trends. With cars, people want attrac-
tive colors but their choice is guided by
quality issues as well.”
The next step could be the personal-
ization of car colors for a growing pro-
portion of automobile purchasers. This
will be made possible by the digitaliza-
tion of paint shops. It will be yet another
big innovation challenge for auto coat-
ings producers and their suppliers. CW
“White continues
to be popular but
it is becoming
a colder, more
technical white. With
some groups of car
owners there is a
growing preference
for clearer, brighter
colors.”
