Black and beyond—colour and the mass-produced motor car

Colour is a highly visible and impressive feature of all products and has long been used to complement and enhance their form and that of motor cars in particular. Automotive colour is usually applied as paint, which also protects the car and maintains its value. However the significance of automotive colour far exceeds that as an aesthetic and cosmetic feature. This paper begins with a brief history of automotive manufacture. A description of the current automotive manufacturing process, the reasons how and why this process became predominant and the role of paint technology within these developments are then discussed.The means that established and maintain colour and gloss surface finish as important automotive design details are then described followed by an overview of changes in colour application processes and paint technologies, the use of plastics in automotive bodies and the implications thereof. The paper concludes that, even though there is potential for change, the impact of this apparently secondary aspect of the car is so significant that it is limiting the adoption of alternative materials and inhibiting the introduction of new manufacturing paradigms.