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Color My World
DuPont announced that silver, black and white are the top colors in the first-ever ranking of worldwide vehicle color popularity. Now in its 57th year, the annual DuPont Global Automotive Color Popularity Report is the original and most authoritative source for automotive color popularity information and trends with detailed breakdowns for the top automotive markets as well as this year’s newly announced top global colors.
In North America, white (17.8 percent) remains the top color choice with black (17 percent) and silver (16.7 percent) in second and third place. However, examining black’s popularity over time shows it is rising – up six percentage points from 2005 – while silver and white have dropped in popularity by about two points over the past five years. Chroma colors blue and red remain solidly popular in the North American market, rising from 11 percent in 2006 to approximately 12 percent this year.
In Europe, the top color black (27 percent) continues to gain popularity over silver (19.9 percent), which is continuing to decline. White is growing in popularity but remains a second tier color with 10.2 percent of the market.
Japan saw a wide swing of color popularity for the year, ultimately aligning more with the North American and European markets. White remained the top color choice at 28 percent, dropping 4 points from 2008. Silver dropped five points to 23 percent, tied with black.
In contrast, the Chinese vehicle market experiences fluctuations in color preference. Silver rose four points to 36 percent for the year to remain the top color, with black dropping eight points to 23 percent as the second most popular color. As this market continues to grow there will likely be less variation year to year.
The market in India shows strong preference for silver (26.4 percent), white (23.4 percent), red (16.1 percent) and blue (10.9 percent) with the remaining colors each garnering 6 percent or less of the market. Of interest, the Russian market looks similar to India with strong chroma colors mixed throughout the rankings, most noticeably in the green area. In the Russian rankings, silver was first (23.4 percent), followed by green (18.2 percent), black (16.7 percent), blue (15.5 percent) and red (10.8 percent).
The DuPont Global Automotive Color Popularity Report remains the authoritative ranking of color preferences and is the industry’s only report to include detailed information on the automotive markets in a variety of countries and regions, including: North America, Europe, Russia, South America, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, China and India.
Assembly Plant Downtime
To assist you in determining order to delivery time for various vehicles, the following are the most current Chrysler, Ford and General Motors assembly plant downtimes for December and January. Keep in mind that all North American assembly plants are closed for production from 12/23/09 to 1/4/10 for the holidays.
Chrysler Group December/January Plant Downtime
| Plant | Vehicle | 7-Dec | 14-Dec | 21-Dec | 28-Dec | 4-Jan | 11-Jan | 18-Jan | 25-Jan |
| | | | | | | | | | |
| Belvidere | Caliber, Compass and Patriot | | | HOLIDAY | HOLIDAY | DOWN | | | |
| Brampton | 300, Challenger and Charger | | | HOLIDAY | HOLIDAY | DOWN | DOWN | | |
| Sterling Heights | Avenger, Sebring Sedan and Convertible | | | HOLIDAY | HOLIDAY | | | | |
| Toluca | PT Cruiser and Journey | | | HOLIDAY | HOLIDAY | DOWN | | | |
| Warren Truck | Ram and Dakota | | DOWN | HOLIDAY | HOLIDAY | DOWN | | | |
| Jefferson North | Cherokee and Commander | | | HOLIDAY | HOLIDAY | | | | |
| Saltillo | Ram | | | HOLIDAY | HOLIDAY | | | | |
| Toledo South | Wrangler | | | HOLIDAY | HOLIDAY | DOWN | | | |
| Toledo North | Liberty and Nitro | | | HOLIDAY | HOLIDAY | DOWN | | | |
| Windsor | Minivan | | | HOLIDAY | HOLIDAY | DOWN | DOWN | | |
Ford Motor Company December/January Plant Downtime
General Motors Company December/January Plant Downtime
Fleeting Tidbits
Nissan is looking to change the navi pricing paradigm by offering a $400 navigation system in some of its high volume 2010 MY products - less than half the price of most options available in vehicles today. The navigation system, which was developed by Nissan and Bosch, gives directions, integrates your tunes with USB and Aux inputs and has integrated Bluetooth connectivity for hands-free calling. The low cost system also connects with a backup camera and can help you save money by pointing out the route that will cost you the least fuel.
Read the complete review at the Detroit News:
http://detnews.com/article/20091128/OPINION03/911280302/1149/Nissan-offers-top-quality-navigation-system-for-low-price
Reminder - Final Fleet Order Date for the 2010 Jeep Grand Cherokee and Jeep Commander is 1/4/10.
Taillights
Over the past few years as part of the annual Woodward Dream Cruise, Chevrolet commissions its ad agency Campbell Ewald to develop a series of billboards to be displayed in the Detroit area. Here’s a sample of some of the billboards from past years.
11/23/09 | |