WorldSkills Shanghai 2026: What Glasurit's Car Painting Competition Reveals About the Future of Automotive Refinishing

Industry News & Insights | October 2026 | Gate Materials

A perfect paint finish is no longer the only measure of excellence in automotive refinishing. At WorldSkills Shanghai 2026, color accuracy, application quality, productivity, material efficiency and sustainable working practices all formed part of the conversation about what makes a world-class automotive painter.

The 48th WorldSkills Competition, held in Shanghai from September 22 to 27, 2026, brought together young skilled professionals from around the world.

In the Car Painting competition, China's Libo Duan won the gold medal, followed by Thailand's Pawaret Wohanluek with silver and the United Kingdom's Oisen McKerr with bronze.

The competition was supported by Glasurit, the premium automotive refinish brand of Surventis, using its 100 Line waterborne basecoat system and Refinity digital ecosystem in the competitors' preparation and training.

But beyond the medals and advanced coating technology, one aspect deserves particular attention from automotive paint manufacturers, distributors and body shop owners:

How should we actually measure the performance of a modern automotive refinishing process?

For years, paint products have often been compared through visible results: gloss, color matching, smoothness and final appearance.

Those qualities remain essential. However, WorldSkills Shanghai 2026 offers a useful reminder that a successful repair also depends on the time, materials, process control and resources required to achieve that result.

The Car Painting skill is designed to demonstrate the technical knowledge, precision and practical abilities required to restore vehicle finishes to professional standards.

According to Glasurit's post-competition report, participants from 24 countries trained with the Glasurit 100 Line system in preparation for the event.

The preparation program also incorporated digital learning, expert-led training and Refinity, a cloud-based digital ecosystem supporting body shop workflows.

The event highlighted the growing importance of combining traditional spray painting skills with digital technology and responsible resource management.

One of the most useful details in Glasurit's announcement was the range of tasks completed by the finalists.

These included:

• Color management

• Paint preparation and application

• Process quality

• Productivity

• Efficient material use

These areas reflect the practical demands of professional automotive refinishing.

A technician must do more than spray a glossy panel.

They need to identify the correct color, prepare materials, follow the application process, achieve consistent results and use workshop resources effectively.

These were areas of competition activity, not a newly published universal product-testing standard.

Nevertheless, they provide a valuable starting point for developing a more complete approach to automotive refinish evaluation.

Glasurit 100 Line is a premium waterborne basecoat system designed for professional automotive refinishing.

Refinity provides digital tools and resources for body shop operations, including color-related workflows and technical information.

At WorldSkills Shanghai 2026, the combination of physical coating materials and digital training demonstrated an important direction in the industry.

Paint technology and digital workflow management are increasingly connected.

A high-performance basecoat system can help achieve color and finish requirements, while digital tools can support the processes surrounding color identification, preparation and application.

However, it is important to distinguish the capabilities of a particular product from the broader benefits of digital workflows.

A digital system does not automatically guarantee perfect color matching, just as a premium basecoat does not eliminate the need for proper spray technique.

The value comes from using the right materials, equipment, information and operator skills together.

For distributors and repair businesses, this suggests that future competitiveness may depend increasingly on the performance of the complete refinishing workflow rather than on individual product specifications alone.

Another significant feature of the event was the Sustainable Practice Excellence Award, presented in collaboration with Glasurit, SATA and 3M.

The first-place award went to Pei-Jen Yu from Chinese Taipei, followed by Shota Sugata from Japan and Haziq Syahmi Bin Nazri from Malaysia.

The award recognized responsible material use, waste reduction, planning and resource management alongside technical performance.

This is particularly relevant for automotive refinishing because sustainability is not limited to whether a coating is waterborne or solventborne.

It can also involve:

• Reducing unnecessary paint mixing and leftover material

• Improving transfer efficiency during spraying

• Avoiding unnecessary rework

• Reducing booth operating time where technically appropriate

• Managing consumables and waste responsibly

• Selecting products and processes that use resources efficiently

A coating with lower VOC emissions may offer environmental advantages, but VOC content alone does not describe the complete environmental impact of a repair.

Likewise, faster curing may reduce energy demand in certain workflows, but the actual benefit depends on equipment, process conditions and repair volume.

The broader lesson is that sustainability should be evaluated through measurable workshop practices rather than marketing claims alone.

For an automotive paint distributor, choosing a new product often begins with familiar questions.

How glossy is the clear coat?

How well does the basecoat cover?

How easy is the primer to sand?

How much does the product cost?

These questions remain important, but they do not provide a complete picture of commercial performance.

Consider two coating systems that produce similar final appearance.

One may require additional coats, longer drying intervals or more color adjustments.

The other may require less material or less labor under the same controlled repair conditions.

Even if the second system has a higher purchase price per litre, its total repair cost could be lower.

That is why we believe product evaluation should consider more than the visual result.

The following framework is our interpretation of the lessons from WorldSkills Shanghai 2026. It is not an official WorldSkills or Glasurit scoring system.

Not every product requires every metric.

A polyester body filler, for example, should be evaluated differently from a clear coat or color-matching system.

The important principle is to select measurements that reflect the actual function of the product and the complete repair process.

At Gate Materials, our business combines automotive body filler manufacturing with long-term automotive coating manufacturing and supply-chain partnerships.

We supply polyester body fillers, primers, basecoats, clear coats and related refinishing consumables to international markets.

When evaluating products from our manufacturing partners, including Zuotong and BOSSDE, we believe the WorldSkills approach offers a useful direction for improving our own product testing and selection methods.

For example, when comparing two automotive clear coats, we should not stop at initial gloss.

We should also consider application viscosity, recommended film thickness, drying and polishing time, material consumption, compatibility and performance after curing.

For basecoats, color accuracy matters, but so do hiding power, sprayability, color adjustment requirements and the number of coats needed to achieve the desired result.

For body fillers, the relevant measurements change again: application behavior, adhesion, sanding time, shrinkage, curing performance and repair reliability become more important.

Imagine a distributor testing two clear coats under the same workshop conditions.

Both produce an acceptable finish.

A more complete evaluation would ask:

1. How much mixed clear coat was consumed per panel?

2. How many coats were needed to achieve the specified film thickness?

3. What flash-off and curing schedule was required?

4. When was the surface ready for polishing under the approved procedure?

5. Did either system require additional correction or rework?

6. How consistent were the results across repeated applications?

These questions are more commercially meaningful than comparing gloss alone.

They also help distributors recommend products according to different customer needs.

An express repair workshop may prioritize turnaround time.

A high-end refinishing business may place greater emphasis on appearance and long-term durability.

A price-sensitive market may require a different balance between material cost, application efficiency and reliability.

There is no single product that is automatically best for every market.

One of the most useful changes distributors can make is to distinguish purchase price from actual repair cost.

A simple way to approach this is:

Total Repair Cost = Coating Materials + Consumables + Labor + Energy + Rework Cost

This is a practical cost model, not an official WorldSkills formula.

It highlights why two products with different purchase prices may have very different economic outcomes.

For example, a lower-priced clear coat may not be the cheaper choice if it requires substantially more material, longer processing time or frequent correction.

Conversely, a premium product is not automatically more economical simply because it is marketed as faster or more efficient.

The result must be demonstrated under comparable test conditions.

To compare products fairly, distributors should standardize the substrate, repair area, application equipment, operator, temperature, humidity, film thickness and acceptance criteria wherever possible.

Only then can differences in material consumption or process time be interpreted meaningfully.

WorldSkills Shanghai 2026 did not introduce a universal new product standard.

What it did demonstrate was a broader understanding of professional refinishing excellence.

Craftsmanship remains central, but digital competence, productivity, material efficiency and responsible working practices are increasingly important alongside the final finish.

For coating manufacturers, this creates pressure to develop products that perform reliably within efficient repair workflows.

For distributors, it encourages more structured and transparent product evaluation.

For body shops, it highlights the value of training, process control and accurate measurement.

And for international suppliers like Gate Materials, it reinforces a principle we consider increasingly important:

The best automotive refinish product is not necessarily the one that looks most impressive in a single spray test. It is the one that delivers the required quality consistently, efficiently and economically in the repair environment for which it is intended.

That is a much more useful question to ask when selecting the next generation of automotive refinishing materials.

Libo Duan from China won gold, Pawaret Wohanluek from Thailand won silver, and Oisen McKerr from the United Kingdom won bronze.

Glasurit 100 Line waterborne basecoat was used in the competition preparation program, supported by digital learning and Refinity tools.

The reported tasks covered color management, paint preparation and application, process quality, productivity and efficient material use.

It was a separate recognition for competitors demonstrating strong sustainable working practices, including efficient material use and responsible resource management.

Distributors can combine traditional quality tests with material consumption, process time, consistency, repair reliability and total cost per repair, using controlled and repeatable test conditions.

Not necessarily in every dimension. Waterborne systems can offer advantages in VOC management, but overall environmental performance also depends on formulation, application, drying energy, material consumption and waste.

Gate Materials is an automotive refinishing materials supplier with its own polyester body filler manufacturing operations and established partnerships across the automotive coatings supply chain.

We work with international distributors and repair businesses to supply automotive body fillers, primers, basecoats, clear coats and related workshop materials.

Our focus is on practical product selection, consistent quality, technical support and solutions suited to different market requirements.

For product information, technical discussions or distributor inquiries, contact the Gate Materials team.

1. Glasurit — Glasurit Celebrates the Winners of the Car Painting Competition at WorldSkills Shanghai. Official post-competition report covering medal winners, competition tasks, Glasurit 100 Line, Refinity and the Sustainable Practice Excellence Award.
   https://www.glasurit.com/gb/news/glasurit-celebrates-winners-car-painting-competition-worldskills-shanghai

2. WorldSkills International — Car Painting, Skill 36. Official skill description and Shanghai 2026 medal results.
   https://worldskills.org/skills/id/247/

3. WorldSkills Shanghai 2026 — Official Event Website. Event dates, competition information and results.
   https://worldskills2026.com/

4. City News Service — Car Painting Skills and Sustainability Commended at WorldSkills Shanghai. Additional reporting on competition tasks, industry participation and sustainable practice recognition.
   https://community.citynewsservice.cn/d/4948-car-painting-skills-and-sustainability-commended-at-worldskills-shanghai

Editorial note: The product evaluation framework and cost-per-repair discussion in this article represent Gate Materials' industry analysis. They are not official WorldSkills judging criteria or product performance claims for Glasurit, Zuotong, BOSSDE or any other manufacturer.