From the Pipeline: 124 New DuPont Colors, Including ‘Green’

This is one in a series of articles about how DuPont is putting science to work in 2009.

Say “hello” to color. That’s 124 new colors to be exact. And most of them are shades of “green” -- not literally, but environmentally.

Coatings & Color Technologies (C&CT) serves one of today’s most dynamic and volatile industries – the automotive segment. In the last year, auto companies have seen dynamic changes with revenue and earnings shortfalls for even the strongest global automakers.

In adversity, we all find strength – and the automotive industry is no exception. Automakers are looking for new innovations, including lighter-weight materials, alternative energy options and colors that are made using the best environmental standards available today. The same is true for the automotive aftermarket, where DuPont is the world’s leading supplier of coatings for the collision repair industry.

“In this platform, every innovation is market-back,” said Lewis Manring, C&CT technology director. “Our customers, including the automotive industry, continue to change and evolve, and we continue to evolve our technologies to best serve them.”

Included in their portfolio of new products, the C&CT platform launched two new product lines in the first quarter – DuPont™ Alesta® AP Anodic line and a new group of products that meet the California Suggested Control Measure (SCM) standard that requires coatings to comply with new standards of environmental performance. Both lines have lower volatile organic compounds (VOC).