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Ford Finds Replacement for Japanese Car Paint

The effects of the twin disaster from Japan on March 11 will continue to make themselves visible for months to come, that's a fact, but at times these effects come in the most unexpected shapes, sizes and... colors.

Crippled by the quake and tsunami deadly duo, a factory which produces paint pigment had to close its production lines and chances are they will remain so for several more weeks. The plant, owned by German company Merck, produced pigments which were used in the paint of models manufactured by several car producers, including Ford and Chrysler.

Shutting down the plant meant that some colors have become unavailable for the customers of the two brands. Ford, who used the pigments more extensively, had to put a stop on orders for cars colored in metallic tuxedo black and a palette of metallic reds.

The problems which might have been caused by the lack of these colors have been solved in advance, after the car maker was able to find new suppliers for the colors. Even so, the problem will grow bigger sometime in the near future, as Ford will run out of pigments for several other colors: Bordeaux reserve, lava red, Kona blue, sangria red, earth and bright magenta. Ford, however, remains optimistic.

"Our team has done a wonderful job of putting in replacement colors and those will be produced in the June and July time frame," Mark Fields, Ford's president of the Americas told Automotive News. "The order bank is now open again." 
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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