AMSTERDAM — Mercedes-Benz and AkzoNobel have agreed to extend their partnership agreement for another four years. It means the company will continue to be a recommended supplier of vehicle refinish products and services in China and a preferred partner in Indonesia. The deal was confirmed after extensive testing and analysis of the product assortments and services provided by AkzoNobel’s premium Sikkens brand.

“We’re delighted to extend our successful partnership with one of the world’s most renowned automotive brands,” said Patrick Bourguignon, Director of AkzoNobel’s Automotive and Specialty Coatings business. “We believe that our class-leading Sikkens portfolio, digital color tools and services offering can add value to our partner’s after-sales network and deliver the best possible support to its customers in China and Indonesia.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Sikkens will continue to be the approved partner for paint repairs in China and the preferred paint partner in Indonesia for the next four years.

As well as offering proven performance and a premium quality refinish system, AkzoNobel is a leader in the development of innovative digital color tools. The partnership means customers can benefit from MIXIT™, a cloud-based color retrieval application that gives instant access to more than two million color formulas. In combination with the compact, hand-held Automatchic™ spectrophotometer, any paint job can be done quicker, more accurately and with less waste.

Customers can also benefit from AkzoNobel’s business services, including the Carbeat™ digital bodyshop workflow solution, which helps to increase production management efficiency and reduces cycle times. Meanwhile, for the Chinese market, the company recently introduced a range of new low-VOC products.

The four-year extension means AkzoNobel continues to be a Mercedes-Benz partner in 26 markets: Abu Dhabi, Austria, Bahrain, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Indonesia, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, the Netherlands, Oman, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, United Arab Emirates, the United States and Yemen.

For more information about Sikkens, visit www.sikkensvr.com.