Automotive Refinish Market
Coatings World spoke with a panel of experts regarding the current state
of the global auto refinish market.
BY TIM WRIGHT
EDITOR
Coatings World: What is the current state of the auto refinish
market on a global level as well as in the NAFTA, Western &
Eastern European and ROW (rest of world) markets?
Ralf Schueler, director marketing business unit,
AkzoNobel Car Refinishes: The past 12 months has been
one of the most difficult years we have ever faced in the car
refinishes industry. But of course, it has been a year of crisis for
the entire global economy, so it would be quite surprising if we
had escaped the fallout from the worst economic recession in
nearly eighty years. We do believe that conditions have stabilized, and after a steep decline in demand at the end of last
year and the first quarter of 2009, we’ve seen some improvement as the year has progressed. The NAFTA market and
Western Europe have been most seriously affected by the global slowdown. While growth in Eastern Europe and Asia slowed,
that was a slowdown from a pretty impressive growth rate, and
Asia especially, is coming out of the recession more rapidly
than the more developed economies of Western Europe and
North America. We firmly believe that there is great potential
there, because more and more people are buying cars.
John Outcalt, VP Americas, PPG Automotive Refinish: In
a challenged market with miles driven down, along with consumer spending, we are committed to our performance and
sustaining our foothold in the markets where we are leaders as
well as establishing the top position in other arenas. In a
changing marketplace where “going green” is increasingly getting top-of-mind attention, we at PPG Refinish haven’t taken
our attention away from the fact that performance will continue to be the ultimate criteria for whether or not a product, or
service, competes successfully.
Darlene Eilenberger, director of marketing for BASF
Coatings North America: All markets have suffered but to
varying degrees. The refinish market seems to have suffered
less than other segments that are linked to manufacturing, like
commercial transport systems and OEM automobiles.
Coatings World: What about China in particular with
regards to the auto refinish market there? How would you
characterize it?
Schueler: There’s no doubt that China presents us with a
Photo courtesy of PPG
great opportunity, and we are well positioned to take
advantage of it. The Chinese automobile market is
already as large as the U.S. market and we think it is likely that growth is going to remain very strong. An important distinction between the Chinese market and the
mature markets is the huge number of first-time buyers.
That means that the vehicle refinishes market will also
be growing rapidly. We have several production facilities
there and we’re working to strengthen our sales and distribution networks to take advantage of the growth in
the Chinese market.
Outcalt: Even considering the impact of the global economic downturn, we continue to see tremendous, double-digit
growth for refinish in China. We’ve seen premium sales more
than double in less than three years. The average number of
cars per 100 persons in China is four compared to eight for
the world average. In mature markets including the U.S.,
Germany and Japan this figure is between 60-70 cars per
100 persons. So the volume of refinish paint used in China is
still far behind the world level, but the growth rate will
remain promising. We believe a 10-12% volume growth per
year can be expected.
We’re also seeing the emergence of environmental concerns as a major issue in China and elsewhere in Asia-Pacific. VOC regulations are being discussed for Hong Kong,
South Korea and Australia that could lead to further opportunities for PPG waterborne technology.
