Chrysler PT Cruiser: Paint coat from BASF

22-Dec-2000

Starting in spring 2001 the Graz, Austria, site of Eurostar, a DaimlerChrysler company, will manufacture the new Chrysler PT Cruiser. BASF coatings is the sole supplier of coatings used to paint this vehicle, of which Theodore Cunningham, DaimlerChrysler's Executive Vice President International, says, "Its unusual design makes the Chrysler PT Cruiser a unique and singular vehicle in any case, in any place around the world." Since the Austrian site came on stream in 1991, BASF Coatings has shared responsibility for the entire paint operations there as a system supplier.

Protection against corrosion is provided to the body of the new Chrysler PT Cruiser by a lead-free cathodic electro-coating which is particularly good at coating cavities. A special, eco-efficient powder coating is applied for stone-chip protection. It offers the advantage of close to 100% material efficiency because the powder overspray is fed back to the application process by means of recycling; its application is a zero-emission process, and it ensures excellent stone-chip resistance of the automotive finish. The Chrysler PT Cruiser gets its color - at present it comes in ten different ones called Bright Silver, Black, Patriot Blue, Shale Green, Inferno Red, Stone White, Dark Garnet Red, Inka Gold, Light Almond and Steel Blue - from water-borne basecoat. And finally, a two-component clearcoat provides gloss and added durability. The major task of the BASF team of four who provide 24-hour support to the Graz paint line is to ensure a consistently high quality level, but they are also responsible for material requirements planning and logistics. Billing is not based on the amount of paint used but on the number of bodies painted. This billing model makes for more reliable costing and provides an additional challenge to BASF as regards identifying and realizing potential savings. Its attraction is above all to use more valuable products which overcompensate for their added cost by ensuring lower product consumption and less reworking. This makes the process more profitable for both partners, and it helps protect the environment.

The production launch of the new Chrysler PT Cruiser marks another milestone in BASF's co-operation with Eurostar at the Graz site, which has been making the Chrysler Voyager since it came on stream in 1991. For example, eco-efficient water-borne basecoats from BASF were generally introduced at the site already at the end of 1994. And in late 1995, this site had the first European auto-making line to apply a powder coating specially developed by BASF to protect vehicles from stone-chipping. Since that date, Eurostar has set the pace for Europe as regards the use of zero-emission powder primer technology in automotive coating. The co-operation is based on a long-standing relationship between what was then Chrysler and BASF Coatings in the U.S. BASF has been co-operating with Chrysler in the U.S. since the early nineteen-eighties in respect of automotive coatings.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/577/chrysler-pt-cruiser-paint-coat-from-basf.html