Silver Takes Gold as Colour of Choice

While a silver medal is often associated with a second place finish, the colour silver was the No. 1 vehicle colour worldwide for the 2002 model year, according to PPG Industries.
The annual survey of consumer preferences, conducted by the Global Design & Colour Marketing Team at PPG, found approximately one-third of the vehicles produced in the leading automotive markets — North America, Europe and Japan — were silver.
“The technology orientation of consumers in North America, Europe and Japan — as well as the use of silver in home interior, fashion and architectural design — has helped boost the global popularity of silver for vehicles,” said Lorene C. Boettcher, manager, global design and colour marketing for the automotive coatings business unit of PPG. “In addition, silver is a very versatile colour that is attractive across all vehicle lines.”
Consumers’ preference for silver and other neutral shades continues to grow, Boettcher said. They have exceeded white in North America and blue in Europe, and matched the perennial popularity of white in Japan for the 2002 model year. Advances in coatings technology have also helped to drive silver’s popularity — by generating a wide spectrum of special effects and appearances.
“Silver can highlight the hard edges and soft lines of a vehicle’s design and can take on several different effects — from very bright and reflective to subtle and sophisticated — based on the size and type of metallic flakes contained in the coating,” said Jerry R. Koenigsmark, manager of colour design, North America for the automotive coatings business unit of PPG. “Globally, for the 2002 model year, we saw very bright silver shades, which are often more appropriate for hard-edge, modern or high-tech vehicle designs.”