Axalta Maps Four Automotive Color Directions for 2026-2027
Axalta has released its 2026-2027 Global Automotive Color Trends Report, outlining four design directions the coatings manufacturer expects to influence vehicle color over the next three to five years.
The report draws on consumer behavior, cultural trends, technology, sustainability and personal expression. Axalta's global color team uses those inputs to develop color directions for automotive manufacturers and designers.
- Beyond Quiet: Strength in Softness focuses on pastel-inspired hues moving toward more sophisticated and premium expressions.
- Luxury 2.0 Beyond the Pomp & Into the Soul emphasizes deeper reds and browns tied to craftsmanship, authenticity and a more personal interpretation of luxury.
- Deep Dive: Just Beyond Depth combines influences from technology and nature, with colors intended to communicate stability, innovation and themes associated with electrification and digital mobility.
- Beyond Ordinary: The Power of Essentials focuses on whites, blacks, grays and silvers, with newer effects, finishes and undertones used to create differentiation within familiar automotive color families.
Axalta develops its forecasts using information from automotive, architecture, consumer products, fashion and technology. The company presents resulting palettes to OEM color and design teams through global color shows featuring painted, contoured panels and coating technologies intended to demonstrate how trend concepts can translate into manufacturable finishes.
Automotive color forecasting connects consumer preferences with pigments, effects, appearance control and coatings manufacturing. Follow PCI's automotive color trends coverage for related forecasts and technology.
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