AkzoNobel Concludes EMEA Roadshow

AkzoNobel Vehicle Refinishes has concluded its From Start to Refinish: The Productivity Drive 2025 roadshow – an initiative designed to bring the company’s latest innovations directly to body shops, distributors, and partners across 12 countries in the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) market. Over 10 weeks, AkzoNobel’s two fully branded roadshow trucks covered 43 stops between them, welcoming more than four thousand visitors to experience firsthand its most advanced refinishing technologies.

The roadshow, which began on April 23 in Madrid, Spain and concluded on June 26 in Didcot, UK, delivered an immersive, hands-on journey into the next generation of productivity and sustainability solutions for the vehicle refinishes industry. The European-wide event was supported by Painter Isse who joined AkzoNobel’s Productivity Drive teams in Denmark, Germany and Italy – including at Autopromotec, the international exhibition for automotive equipment and aftermarket products held in Bologna.

As well as visiting customers and distributors, the roadshow’s route plan was devised around AkzoNobel Automotive Training Centres (ATCs) to give professional applicators an opportunity to see into how the latest spray booth technologies can make a difference to their working environment and improve the efficiency of the high-tech process of vehicle repairs. One key location was AkzoNobel’s newly developed training center in Montataire, France which was officially opened during the Roadshow event. This training center features a 100% electric spray booth and latest-generation equipment, and a heat recovery system that reduces overall energy consumption.

Central to the showcase at each location was the newly launched one-stop application basecoat: Sikkens Autowave Optima. This basecoat has been developed to reduce process times, lower material consumption, and provide superior durability for outstanding end results. Alongside live demonstrations of product application, the roadshow gave attendees the opportunity to see AkzoNobel’s full ecosystem of technology, digital tools, and services, including Refinish+, PaintPerformAir, and ColorMatchic. These solutions help customers optimize operations, increase throughput, and meet sustainability goals with measurable results.

Ignacio Román Navarro, Business Director, Automotive & Vehicle Refinishes EMEA says the roadshow created fantastic opportunities to engage directly with the professionals who rely on AkzoNobel’s products every day: “Bringing our innovations directly to customers has strengthened relationships and allowed us to demonstrate how our products and digital tools drive performance within their own businesses. The live demonstrations of the new basecoats in the spraybooth were particularly well-received as they showed just how much time and product can be saved with the one-stop application.

“The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive,” adds Ignacio. “It’s clear that our solutions are making a real difference by improving bodyshop productivity, enhancing quality, and supporting profitability. We remain focused on empowering our customers with solutions that support growth, sustainability, and long-term success.”