World's first car to use 100% thermoplastic paintfilm for its exterior body

28-Aug-08

Soliant, LLC which won an environmental award for its Fluorex® bright film (chrome alternative) at the March 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers-Global Plastics Environmental Conference (SPE GPEC) will see world's first car having 100% paintfilm thermoplastic exterior developed with its Fluorex® Paintfilm. Carbon Motors Corporation is the company which has announced to use 100% paintfilm in its 'E7' law enforcement vehicle shying away form the traditional paint infrastructure which a lot of other automakers adopt. There are several reasons for the adoption of Fluorex® Paintfilm. Main amongst them is it's durability in severely abrasive conditions and a multitude of color options. In addition, using 100% paintfilm will eliminate a need to develop a dedicated paint line which usually cost about 40% of the new car production plant and take 30-40% of the floor space. Also, using paintfilm for Carbon Motors could save about 150,000 MW per annum relative to using traditional paint infrastructure, as per their calculations. Paintfilm is extensively used on exterior components such as fascias, door steps, rocker panels and the like by the OEMs. The Carbon Motors E7 law enforcement vehicle's exterior body panels will be produced with combined technology from Soliant and BASF including the enhanced UV-cured film technology with added scratch and mar resistance allowing for the coating of a vehicle.