In the automotive industry, the word "color" has an important meaning. According to customer research, a great number of people - or whole families - make their final decision to buy a car based on its color and appearance.
Black cars still enjoy a great deal of popularity. In 2001, they had a market share of app. 19% in Germany, 11% in USA and 8% in Japan.
Carbon blacks are the number one pigment used to produce different black paints. They are followed by effect pigments, silver pigments, or grey metallic pigments in combination with black pigment . The popularity of these last combinations is increasing every year.
When we speak about black pigment in connection with the automotive industry, the discussion mainly deals with their use in top coats. But when we look at the whole car, there are other interesting applications for carbon black.
It starts with one of the most sophisticated coatings we know: electrophoretic coatings or ED-electrodeposition coatings (also just called E-coat).
The final development of this type of coating, for their on-line use, started around 1960.