Green predicted to be the car colour of the future

The automotive colours of the future will be “naturally cultivated,” according to the design team at materials giant BASF.

In its 2012-2013 colour trend forecast, the group said it is expecting colours of nature – particularly green – to make a return to a car market long dominated by silver and black.

BASF's Mark Gutjahr with some 'green'

But it will be a few years before this colour trend becomes obvious. Mark Gutjahr, head of BASF Design Europe, said: “The continued high value assigned to the notion of ecology may now again be signified by the colour green and this colour will return to cars in four to five years.

"That’s about how long it takes for a trend colour to appear on the roads. So we still have to wait a bit for green.”

BASF’s design experts previously predicted a brown trend. The company said brown is now used for nearly 7% of the newly-registered cars in Germany and it expects it to remain at this high level.

Gutjahr said: “There are signs that the need for more colour on the roads is continuing and that, in the future, we will be tapping into further colour spaces, such as bronzes and emeralds. Specifically, green is becoming more significant.”

The designers base their forecast on social trends, such as a desire to experience greater diversity in products, which can be translated into an expansion of automotive colour ranges to include ruby red and blues.

Another trend is towards “materials that can be experienced”, said BASF. Mobile technology is becoming more intuitive, but it seems consumers still want to connect with materials.

Corinna Sy, designer at BASF Coatings Europe, said “We are observing new narrative and haptic qualities in many areas. Heavy substances, striking surfaces and expressive materials such as wood and stone create a stronger emotional charge of the world we live in. In the automotive world, this means that we can expect more intensive colours and bolder effects. The new colours are expressive, but not blatant, like a good story.”

The new palette of colours in BASF’s forecast includes dark berries, intensive browns and coppers, along with radiant emeralds.

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