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Cobra Bows Out

Having staked a place as a dependable and enduring market favourite, time has finally caught up with Cobra, as PPG’s long running refinish system is phased out.


The more ‘experienced’ paint technicians out there are likely to have fond memories of Cobra. Many will have cut their teeth on it in the early days of their career or used it day-in, day-out as a dependable, feature-packed paint system. Back in 1991, when it was unveiled via a series of spectacular launch events across the region, Cobra was hailed as a truly world-class refinish system. The Australian development team, based at PPG’s Clayton headquarters, put in three years of intensive research to formulate a new generation basecoat system that would give local repairers the capability to reproduce the explosion of new colours and finishes rolling off the production lines of vehicle OEMs across the globe. It quickly became clear that Cobra was exactly what the local industry was crying out for as it hit the ground running with a market response that exceeded all expectations. After initially estimating that around 150 collision repairers would convert to Cobra in the first year, the tally actually hit over 700 in just three months! Driven by excellent colour capability, ease of use and a quality end finish, Cobra cement its place as a market leader. Over the years, a series of updates have kept the range fresh and injected new technologies to help it keep pace with the ongoing changes in automotive coatings.
 
While it was state-of-the-art in its day, almost three decades in action has seen Cobra steadily overtaken by the next generation of PPG refinish systems. Today, PPG’s ENVIROBASE® High Performance waterborne basecoat system, along with the DELTRON® GRS solvent-borne system, has taken up the baton thanks to cutting edge technology, global reach, outstanding colour capability and high productivity performance which is ideally suited to the needs of the fast-paced modern industry. Although the Cobra brand will be remembered with fondness, it’s now time to move on.