If your car is damaged, you hope that (among other things) the bodyshop will be able to match both the appearance and the durability of the original finish on the repaired areas of bodywork. Yet in vehicle finishing, all the advantages lie with the original vehicle manufacture:
1. Bodies can be dip-coated with electrophoretic primer for maximum corrosion resistance.
2. Bodywork can be stoved at any appropriate temperature, since curing is carried out before temperature-sensitive parts are fitted.
3. Uniform coating application can be ensured by spray robots which only have to be configured for a small number of different body shapes.
4. VOCs can, if necessary, be removed by efficient ventilation systems.
These were followed by synthetic enamels [modified alkyd-based finishes], and in some markets thermoplastic acrylics, before the introduction of two-pack polyurethane systems in the 1980s began to offer levels of toughness and durability that were comparable to those of the original stoving finishes.