Rapid Motorization and Robust Passenger Car Production in Asia-Pacific Drive Market Growth
The automotive coatings market is bifurcated into OEM and refinish applications. The OEM market is further divided by product type into e-coat, primer, basecoat, and clearcoat, by technology type into solvent-borne, water-borne, and powder coatings, and by chemistry type into polyurethane (PU), epoxy, polyester, and acrylic. The refinish segment is further divided by product type into undercoat, basecoat, clearcoat, and thinners/hardeners, by technology type into solvent-borne and water-borne coatings, and by chemistry type into polyurethane (PU), epoxy, polyester, and acrylic.
The market for automotive coatings used in OEM applications contributed to the largest share in the automotive coatings market in 2019 and is slated to register higher growth compared to refinish applications during the forecast period, underpinned by increasing passenger car production, especially in Asia-Pacific countries such as China, India, Japan, and South Korea. However, the ongoing global economic slowdown, coupled with the rising incidence of coronavirus infections is expected to hamper the automotive OEM coatings market globally during the short and medium terms of the forecast period. Within the OEM segment, by product type, the clearcoat market accounted for the largest volume share in 2019, primarily due to its high demand for improving the aesthetic appearance and enhancing the durability of the coating system.
Moreover, by chemistry type, acrylic is expected to remain the largest market in the automotive OEM coatings industry throughout the forecast period, owing to its excellent crosslinking features compared to other resins. The market for automotive refinish coatings in developed countries of North America and Europe is slated to register negative volume growth during the forecast period. The rate of accidents has been declining in these regions, owing to improved traffic management systems and advancement in car safety features. This, in turn is expected to reduce collision repair rates and hampers the subsequent consumption volume of automotive coatings in the refinish market. Within the refinish segment, by product type, the basecoat market accounted for the largest revenue share in 2019, mainly due to the increasing consumption of higher-priced and quality-intensive water-borne basecoat systems worldwide. Moreover, by chemistry type, PU is the most preferred choice of resin for refinish applications, due to its excellent pigment wetting, color matching, and color retention properties.
For both OEM and refinish applications, water-borne coatings are expected to grow at the fastest rate, primarily due to increasingly stringent government regulations worldwide against the use of coatings with high VOC content.
Asia-Pacific accounted for the largest volume share in the automotive coatings market, for both OEM and refinish applications in 2019 and is expected to continue its dominance during the forecast period. Increasing urbanization and demographic growth, coupled with robust automotive vehicle production and increasing road traffic are largely responsible for driving the demand for automotive coatings in the region.
The market for automotive coatings in North America and Europe is already in a mature stage. However, increasing demand for environmentally sustainable and value-added coating products in these regions is expected to boost revenue growth, for both OEM and refinish applications, in these regions.
A majority of the demand for automotive coatings in the Middle East and ROW is from Turkey, Russia, Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Morocco, South Africa, Algeria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain. The increasing demand for technologically advanced products is expected to create a higher demand for both OEM and refinish automotive coatings in these countries.
Regulatory authorities, such as the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME), the European Parliament (EP), and the Chinese Ministry of Ecology and Environment (MEE), enforce regulations against emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from automotive coatings. Chemicals with low VOC content are increasingly being selected by automotive coating manufacturers based on the need to adhere to these standards.
Owing to the complexity of production process and severity of application areas, the market for a majority of the automotive coatings is highly consolidated with strong presence of branded companies having excellent manufacturing expertise. Rather than developing alternate chemistries, coating manufacturers are more focused on improving the performance characteristics of existing formulations, with the ultimate goal of improving the color, finish, and aesthetics based on specific requirements of customers worldwide. These factors, in turn, help companies develop value-added coatings with advanced features, such as shorter curing times and faster application process. Moreover, leading companies are set to strengthen their market share by vertical integration, partnerships, or mergers & acquisitions (M&A) and improving customer collaboration.
