Automotive Refinish
Market
Consolidation of body shops, conversion to waterborne
technologies and rising raw material costs
are all factors impacting the automotive refinish market.
BY KERRY PIANOFORTE
ASSOCIATE EDITOR
There are many factors
influencing the automotive
refinish market. Raw material prices and environmental
legislation certainly play a major
role. But other factors outside of
the market’s control also influence the automotive refinish
market. These outside factors
include auto insurance companies who are reducing the num-
ber of shops within their network, consolidation of body shops
and lower accident rates.
“Globally, the vehicle refinish
market is growing, where we see
huge growth differences from country to country,” said Ralf Schueler,
global marketing manager,
AkzoNobel Car Refinishes. “In the
mature markets—Western Europe
and North America in particular—
the market is actually shrinking
because of improvements in traffic
and car safety and customers delaying repairs more than they did in the
past. On the other hand, in emerging
economies like the so-called BRIC
countries—Brazil, Russia, India and
China—there has been a tremendous
boom in car ownership and corresponding growth in the car refinishes
market.”
“In North America we see a lot of
shops slowing down, having less
work or no work at all,” said Darlene
Eilenberger, director of marketing for
BASF Coatings North America.
“However, thriving shops continue to
have sufficient work to maintain
their current business models.
Globally, we see that markets are
also slow, but in most cases, oil prices
have not affected the number of
miles driven by consumers as is the
case in the U.S. In this industry, the
number of miles driven by consumers
has a direct correlation with the
amount of work available to collision
repair shops.”
With Sikkens Autoclear UV, AkzoNobel
offers a technology that improves efficiency, and with the lower energy
required for curing, it is also greener
than either solventborne or waterborne
technologies.
