Signature Color

Havanna WA17 (remastered)

A Classic BMW Brown Revealed in a New Light – Dark Brown Metallic with Subtle Bronze Effect.

Havanna Metallic is a dark brown metallic by BMW, offered as part of its OEM exterior color range. The color is based on a fine aluminum pigment structure, delivering a controlled metallic effect with controlled reflectivity and a flop that ensures light-to-dark transitions across viewing angles. Under direct illumination, such as sunlight, subtle bronze nuances become visible, while in shaded or low-light conditions, the color shifts toward a richer, deeper brown, preserving visual depth and consistency across all lighting environments.

Remastered
“Remastered” indicates that the original color formulation has been slightly adjusted based on the insights of our RheoLight ColorLab experts. These subtle refinements are designed to optimize the performance of the color combined with RheoLight Crystal Glass Pigments.

There are two primary objectives of the remastering process:

  1. Optimizing Color Perception: Enhancements to pigment distribution and metallic effect increase visual depth and consistency while preserving the original hue.
  2. Improving Visibility: The formulation is tuned to work effectively with RheoLight Crystal Glass Pigments, boosting reflectivity and significantly improving full-object visibility by slightly changing the base color’ identity.
Download Formula
Signature Color Havanna
Signature Color Havanna
Signature Color Havanna
Signature Color Havanna
Signature Color Havanna
Signature Color Havanna

History & Availability
Havanna WA17 was first introduced on BMW’s production vehicles in the early 2000s and remained in the BMW palette through the late 2010s. During this period, the color was offered on a wide range of models, including the 3 Series, 5 Series, 6 Series, 7 Series, Z4, and selected M models. Availability varied by model, market, and model year. Havanna is referenced under paint codes A17 / WA17 in OEM documentation and refinish systems and remains available through automotive refinish suppliers for color-accurate restoration and repair.

The hood of the car is lit by direct sunlight. The darker panel on the left has 0% RheoLight, while the panel on the right contains 6% RheoLight. The RheoLight panel shows improved visibility under direct sunlight.

Overview

Application Note

Color Name: BMW WA17 Havanna Metallic
Car Refinish Paint System: Syrox Waterbased (Axalta)
Primer: Dark Grey
Basecoat Layers: 2
Clearcoat: Gloss

Primary Applications: OEM and aftermarket automotive coatings, color-accurate restoration, and refinishing.

Visibility Performance

When evaluated using the Visibility Label (www.visibilitysaveslives.org), including 6% (weight percentage) RheoLight CSTL (D50 5 micron) in the formulation improves the remastered Havanna’s rating from F to E, demonstrating a substantial increase in visibility performance for ADAS systems, LiDAR visibility and under low-light conditions.

A BMW X5 finished in the remastered Havanna color with 6% RheoLight CSTL fully retains its signature metallic flop, while delivering a clear increase in angular and low-light visibility. The integration of RheoLight enhances reflectivity without compromising the original copper-brown character.

The X5 owner described the remastered Havanna color as “addictive beauty”,  noting that every drive became an experience of constantly observing the interaction between RheoLight and the warm bronze-brown hue, especially when illuminated by sunlight.

RheoLight improves the Havanna’s rating from F to E

The label shows how adding RheoLight improves the visibility of the color Havanna WA17 across different conditions.

Key Takeaways:

6% CSTL RheoLight shows significant improvement with Full Object Visibility achieving 6.4x improvement – the highest factor among all parameters. Human Visibility shows 2.6x improvement, Computer Vision 2.2x, LiDAR 1.9x, and Twilight Visibility 2.0x.

This demonstrates balanced performance improvement across all visibility parameters at 6% concentration, with Full Object Visibility showing the most dramatic response to RheoLight enhancement.

Color Formulations

  • Formulation Havanna 6% RheoLight – T03452
    Component Percentage (%) in grams
    Syrox S900 Clear Binder 14,5
    Syrox S150 Black 42,3
    Syrox S604 Extra Fine Brilliant Silver 8,4
    Syrox S603 Medium Coarse Silver 6,1
    Syrox S703 Green Red Pearl 3,7
    Syrox S251 Brownish Red 1,7
    Syrox S451 Blue 1,0
    Syrox S902 Flop Controller 0,5
    Syrox S940 Dilution 15,7
    RheoLight-Base WB CSTL 6,0
    Total

    100,0 gr