About DuPont Refinish

Founded in 1802 on the banks of the Brandywine River in Wilmington, Delaware, USA, DuPont originally manufactured gun powder. Today, 200 years after its inception, the global giant - producing such well-known brand names as Lycra®, Nylon, Teflon® and Corian® - could not be more diverse, with one exception: its head office is still based in Wilmington.

Gun powder manufacture was lucrative, but after several acquisitions at the turn of the last century, DuPont successfully diversified into coatings.

Nitrocellulose, a raw material in smokeless powder, was at that time being used as a lacquer for brass. DuPont chemists embarked on an aggressive research and development programme to improve the film and in 1920 produced a highly durable lacquer. The product, named Duco® in 1924, revolutionised car manufacturing.

Its introduction on the first paint line at General Motors, coupled with its ability to be sprayed rather than handbrushed, reduced painting time from weeks to a mere six hours. Duco® caused further furore because it was available in a palette of colours - until then black had been the only vehicle colour available.

Evolving refinish market

The success of Duco® meant the paint was soon being used by bodyshops. And so the car paint market began to evolve. Nitrocellulose lacquers have long been superseded by acrylic and enamel paints. Over time DuPont developed new automotive refinish technologies, and has an impressive lists of milestones.

In 1982 DuPont Refinish first introduced its High Solids automotive paint technology and developed this into a range of Low Emission Centari products by 1995. In 1999 the refinish business enjoyed a 30 per cent global market share.

Today the division that covers paint, DuPont Performance Coatings, has 34 manufacturing sites and 20 research and development labs worldwide, which have kept up with, and anticipated, environmental pressures together with the changing needs of bodyshops, customers and vehicle manufacturers.

DuPont Performance Coatings is the world's largest OEM and refinish paint supplier, fourth largest paint producer in the world and operates in 35 countries. This means that refinishers worldwide have at their disposal many DuPont technologies and car paint systems to respond to the automotive refinish market, and customer's, demands, today and in the future.

DuPont Refinish distribution network in Australia >