CLERMONT-DE-L’OISE, France — R-M^®, BASF’s premium automotive refinish paint brand, is hosting the 13^th International R-M Best Painter Contest Final at the R-M Refinish Competence Center in Clermont-de-l’Oise, France, from June 28–30, 2022. Ten finalists from the national finals around the world will participate on-site in the competition, which was last held in 2016.

Under this year’s theme “Driving digital competency and eco-effective solutions,” R-M invites participants to demonstrate their best automotive refinishing skills under rigorous competition guidelines. They will use R-M’s premium paint solutions, such as ONYX HD^® waterborne paint line, premium clearcoats and the state-of the-art digital color matching technologies including the Colortronic 12/6.

Participants will also get to use R-M Refinity^®, an innovative cloud platform hosting every digital solution to support painter and bodyshop managers in their daily activities.

For the first time, painters will compete for two awards this year: the International R-M Best Painter Award focusing on technical skills and creativity, and the new Pioneers Award, which was initiated to support social and sustainable attributes. The jury is composed of the R-M global technical and marketing experts.

National finals were held in the past year, which saw a total of 13 national winners. Due to the pandemic and travel challenges, 10 best painters from Belgium, France, Italy, Poland, Morocco, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Japan and the United States will travel to France. All the finalists will compete in a series of seven skills-based and digital tasks including color reading, efficient application, smart repair, health and safety, and using paint-related products.

“The International Best Painter Contest is R-M’s premium flagship event, designed to develop and nurture young talents on a global platform to ensure the sustainable future of skills in the refinish coatings industry. More than ever before, R-M emphasizes the importance of creativity, digitalization and sustainability to ensure this next generation of painters is equipped with the right combination of skills to create a pipeline of talent for our customers and for the industry to thrive,” said Fabien Boschetti, Director, Global Marketing, Automotive Refinish Coatings Solutions at BASF.

The 13^th International R-M Best Painter Contest is supported by R-M’s premium and global business partners 3M, ANEST IWATA, EMM by COLAD, SATA and RODIM as well as Horn&Bauer, IRT by Hedson, METTLER-TOLEDO and siaAbrasives.

Reportedly one of the most modern training centers in Europe, the R-M Refinish Competence Center in Clermont is located 80 km from Paris and offers ideal conditions to run the competition in the perfect environment. The event will also be streamed on social media.

Learn more at www.rmpaint.com.