Global Automotive Carbon Fiber materials Market: Overview
Composites have been gaining importance in a number of applications since the last decade. Carbon fiber materials, also known as graphite fiber, are very strong but lightweight material. These specialty materials are around 5X stronger than steel and are increasingly used in the automotive industry. Automotive carbon fiber materials are manufactured by the polyacrylonitrile (PAN), rayon or pitch-based processes.
PAN-based automotive carbon fiber materials offers excellent strength and high stiffness. An Automotive Carbon Fiber materials can be used in a number of interior, exterior or under-the-hood automotive applications. Every gram of weight counts, lighter the automotive, better the automotive performance and fuel economy.
Globally, automotive manufacturers have been spending millions of dollars on technological advancement and have been consistently focusing on high performance materials in the automotive manufacturing, which has led to a surge in demand for automotive carbon fiber materials.
Global Automotive Carbon Fiber materials Market: Dynamics
Sales of Automotive Carbon Fiber materials has a directly co-relation with the global automotive production. The automotive industry, which was on a decline during the economic recession, is now on a rise with China, U.S., Germany, Japan and India being some of the manufacturers.
Global automotive production is anticipated to witness an average yearly growth of around 2-3% in the long term forecast, thereby consequently leading to the growth in the global Automotive Carbon Fiber materials market. The U.S. has set a goal to reach an average fuel economy of 54.4 miles-per-gallon by 2025.
This will drive automotive producers to seek Carbon Fiber materials that are not only light and strong but are also easy to fabricate. The trend of electric vehicles and hybrid cars is also rising. Companies like Volvo aims for 50% of sales to be electric by 2025. These cars use more percentage of plastics as compared to their metal counterparts. Government initiatives along with stringent regulations have led manufacturers to develop electric vehicles, which will use the Automotive Carbon Fiber materials further driving the growth in the market.
Global Automotive Carbon Fiber materials: Market Overview
The global automotive production is shifting towards emerging economies of Eastern Europe, China, India and Mexico. This can mainly be attributed to lower manufacturing costs, increasing the demands owing to growing disposable incomes. In the long term forecast, the fleet on road is also expected to grow at a modest CAGR, thereby providing opportunities for growth of Automotive Carbon Fiber materials and their further customization.
Since, Automotive Carbon Fiber materials are expensive when compared to other metals, their use was limited to sporting cars and high-end vehicles. This trend has been seen changing with a number of companies including Mercedes, BMW, Audi, etc. already incorporating Automotive Carbon Fiber materials in their respective cars.
The one restraining factor in the Automotive Carbon Fiber materials market is their price. These materials are over 20 times costlier when compared to steel. This has led the Automotive Carbon Fiber materials manufacturers to develop low-cost manufacturing methods. Automotive globalization, along with expansions in key markets coupled with government initiatives and regulations, will drive the demand for Automotive Carbon Fiber materials during the forecast period.
Global Automotive Carbon Fiber materials Market: Key Players
Some of the key players in the Automotive Carbon Fiber materials market are:
- Cytec Engineered Materials (Solvay SA)
- Hexel
- Nippon Graphite Fiber Corporation
- Mitsubishi Rayon Co. Ltd.
- Toho Tenax
- Toray Industries
- Zoltek
Global Automotive Carbon Fiber materials Market: Segmentation
The global Automotive Carbon Fiber materials market can be segmented on the basis of raw material type as PAN-based Automotive Carbon Fiber materials, pitch-based Automotive Carbon Fiber materials, and rayon-based Automotive Carbon Fiber materials.
On the basis of application, the Automotive Carbon Fiber materials market can be segmented as interior, exterior, underbody, chassis, powertrain and engine components.
On the basis of vehicle type, the Automotive Carbon Fiber materials market can segmented as passenger cars, LCV and HCV, and on the basis of geography, the Automotive Carbon Fiber materials market can be segmented as North America, Latin America, Europe, Japan, Asia Pacific ex. Japan (APEJ) and Middle East & Africa (MEA).