Coatings Solutions

Driving Surface Solutions

Get to know one of the leading suppliers of global surface solutions. BASF's Coatings division develops, produces and markets a high-quality range of innovative and sustainable automotive OEM and refinish coatings, decorative paints and surface-applied treatments for metal, plastic and glass substrates for a wide range of industries.

We treat various type of surfaces requiring specific properties: we color them, we protect them, and we give them functionalities. Our customers prefer to work with us because of our strengths: customer-centricity, deep expertise, and innovation potential in surfaces. We drive surface solutions! Meet your highest technical and qualitative demands in an environmentally friendly and beautiful way. We combine sophisticated design with functionality. Shine in the international marketplace!

We are a reliable worldwide performer – whether in research and development, production or service. Our “Innovation Beyond Paint” program as well as our Digital Incubation Unit develop new markets and businesses.

Our Story Sustainability Digitalization Color Design News & Media

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Driving Color Design

ON VOLUDE

Each year, designers for BASF’s Coatings division create a new collection of colors to inspire automotive designers around the globe. This year, non-human intelligence was a strong driver for the creation of the ON VOLUDE collection from Automotive Color Trends by BASF for 2023-2024.

AUTOMOTIVE COLOR TRENDS 2023-2024

Collision repair industry

Supporting young talents

BASF is stepping up its commitment to developing young talents for the collision repair industry. Almost 600 young professionals from 32 countries were celebrated at the EuroSkills Gdańsk 2023 Closing Ceremony. The best painters were Bastien Vaire from France (1st place), Johannes Brandl from Germany (2nd place) and Jonas Yde Petersen from Denmark.

EuroSkills 2023

China sites

100% renewable energy

BASF Automotive OEM Coatings secures 100% renewable energy across all China sites. This moves BASF’s Coatings division one step closer to its global sustainability targets – on carbon reduction, material efficiency, and safe and sustainable solutions.

BASF Española

New Technology Center

BASF Española inaugurated its new Technology Center in Marchamalo (Guadalajara). This center is dedicated to researching and replicating the painting process of any vehicle manufacturer. The facility serves more than 100 automotive factories on different continents.

Global business units

New organizational setup

Effective August 1, 2023, the Coatings division of BASF will implement global units for its Automotive OEM Coatings Solutions and Automotive Refinish Coatings Solutions businesses. With the new organizational setup, BASF better serves its global customers who increasingly ask for global support and services.

Press Release

Tracingo

New market standards

BASF, THIELMANN and NXTGN launched a strategic partnership to further develop and commercialize intermediate bulk container (IBC) trackers. The expertise of the three partners will bring the product “Tracingo” as part of the ibc.digital platform to commercial maturity and set new market standards.

Press release

Supplier of the Year

GM Award

General Motors (GM) has recognized BASF as a 2022 Supplier of the Year. The award recognizes global suppliers that distinguish themselves by exceeding GM’s requirements, and providing innovative technologies at some of the highest quality in the automotive industry. This is the 16th time BASF has received the award.

Press Release

BASF Shanghai Coatings

Technical Center Building

BASF Shanghai Coatings (BSC) announced the opening of its new technical center building at the BSC Minhang site. As one of the key highlights of the Minhang extension project, the launch marks another milestone. With the brand-new outlook, BSC will better serve automotive OEM customers in China.

Press Release

New Color Report

Expanding rainbow

As they have for several years, achromatic colors dominated the automotive market around the globe in 2022. But as BASF’s designers found in the company’s Color Report for Automotive OEM Coatings, the automotive color rainbow is expanding to allow colors like yellow, orange, green, and violet to take market share.

Global Color Report 2022

Biomass Balance Approach

Debut in China

BASF’s ColorBrite^® Airspace Blue ReSource basecoat, certified by REDcert² according to a biomass balance approach, made its debut in China. This is the first time BASF’s biomass balance automotive OEM coatings were introduced to Asia since the official launch in Europe in May of this year.

Press Release

Surface Treatment

Production site in China

The Surface Treatment global business unit of BASF’s Coatings division, operating under the Chemetall brand, celebrated the inauguration of its state-of-the-art surface treatment production site in Pinghu City, Zhejiang Province, China.

Competition for car painters

WorldSkills 2022

Winners of the WorldSkills Competition 2022 Special Edition for Car Painting raised the bar in skill and sustainable practices. The event was held October 18-22 at College 360, the largest general and vocational educational institution in Silkeborg, Denmark.

Press Release

Surface Treatment

Innovation Center in China

The Surface Treatment global business unit of BASF’s Coatings division, operating under the Chemetall brand, opened its first regional innovation and technology center for applied surface treatment technology in Shanghai, China.

Automotive Refinish Coatings

BOOST for body shops

Body Shop BOOST is a new digital, holistic assessment tool covering the full scope of a repair shop including body, paint, mechanical, sustainability and further infrastructure relevant elements. With that, body shops gain vital insights on what they can act on and improve.

BodyShop BOOST

oli [all-ë] - Citroën concept car

Breaking new ground

Together with Citroën, BASF joined the journey to a new fully electric car concept: oli [all-ë]. Less is more! The car was painted with the the latest generation of waterborne coatings. For the interior, the concept car used NovaCoat-P, a waterborne coating for flexible substrates that provides additional protection against abrasion, UV, chemicals and dirt.

Products & Solutions

Electrophoretic dip coating

New application center

BASF Coatings has inaugurated a new application center for electrophoretic dip coating at its headquarters in Münster-Hiltrup, Germany. The electrophoretic or cathodic dip coat (e-coat) protects the surfaces, edges and cavities of a car body against corrosion, and evens out the roughness of the pre-treated metal surfaces.

Press Release

Novaflex BladeUp

Efficient wind turbines

Energiekontor AG, a pioneer in renewable energies since 1990 and listed on the SDAX of the German stock exchange, has teamed up with the international maintenance company Omega-Tools GmbH and BASF’s Coatings division to gradually equip its wind turbines with Novaflex BladeUp, thus making them more efficient.

Press Release

Automotive Color Trends

NEW ARRAY

Each year, designers for BASF’s Coatings division create a new collection to inspire automotive designers around the globe. The 2022-2023 collection is called NEW ARRAY, providing innovative shades with an increasing focus on sustainability and functionality, while still moving into new and exciting color spaces.

Our new color collection

Automotive Refinish Coatings

Capacity Expansion

BASF Coatings (Guangdong) Co., Ltd. (BCG) has expanded the production capacity of automotive refinish coatings at its coatings site in Jiangmen, Guangdong Province in South China. With the completion of the expansion in July 2022, BASF’s annual production capacity of automotive refinish coatings will be increased to 30,000 metric tons.

Press Release

Gardostrip® technology

Solution for Ford Valencia

BASF supplies Ford Valencia with the CathoGuard^® E-Coat. The coating process requires the electrodeposition tank to be in optimal cleaning conditions. To achieve this while at the same time making a step towards sustainability in its processes, Ford introduced the Gardostrip^® technology – a highly efficient paint cleaning technology.

Press Release

Automotive Refinish Coatings

Supporting Peugeot

BASF Global Automotive Refinish Coatings Solutions, a business unit of BASF’s Coatings division, is proud to partner with the European Association of Peugeot Car Dealers (AECP) for the upcoming years. The AECP works hand-in-hand with Peugeot and Stellantis Group to establish professional guidelines for automotive retailing.

Press Release

Lighting Solutions - Glare Control

Design Plus Award

BASF GlareControl was chosen for the Design Plus powered by Light + Building from more than 100 submissions and honored as “Best of”. The award is a seal of quality for products that stand out due to their readiness for the future, innovative design and energy-efficient technology.

GlareControl

Automotive Refinish Coatings

R-M Best Painter Contest

R-M^®, BASF's premium automotive refinish paint brand, has announced the winners of its 13^th International R-M Best Painter Contest. Andrea Albertoni from Italy was named the contest's winner, 2^nd Place Award went to Josephine Ellwein from Germany, and Masaya KATAOKA from Japan received 3rd Place.

R-M Best Painter Contest

Automotive Coatings

Application Center in India

BASF has expanded its Automotive Coatings Application Center in Mangalore, India. As an integral part of BASF’s existing research and development (R&D) facilities for automotive coatings solutions, the facility covers over 400 square meters of floor area and is equipped with state-of-the-art equipment.

Press Release

Digital Incubation Unit

Driving Digital Innovation

Welcome to our Digital Incubation Unit (DIU). The DIU develops digital business models and establishes corporate ventures for BASF’s Coatings division. Get to know the fascinating interplay between the challenges of the automotive and surface treatment industry and the opportunities offered by digital trends.

New DIU Website

Biomass balance approach

Sustainable coatings

The BMW Group is the first OEM to use BASF paints certified according to the biomass balance approach. Reducing fossil resources and using more sustainable raw materials minimizes the carbon footprint.

Press Release

Münster site

New laboratory building

BASF opened a new laboratory building for the development of automotive refinish coatings and innovations beyond paint at its site in Münster, Germany. It underlines the Coatings division’s global position as a future-oriented and innovative company.

Press Release

Digital Solution for Body Shops

Seamless Experience

With Refinity, we are the first company in the global refinish market offering a single digital platform that combines a number of different software solutions into one secure, easy-to-use cloud-based solution. A solution that is designed to drive body shop business success.