In the Shop With DuPont Refinish Systems
Coatings World spoke to Matt Robertson, global marketing director, DuPont
Performance Coatings, Refinish Systems about the state of the refinish market
including the impact of the recession as well as some of DuPont’s latest technology.
BY TIM WRIGHT
EDITOR
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?
Matt Robertson, global marketing director, DuPont Performance Coatings,
Refinish Systems: The market in North
America and Western Europe is bouncing back a little slower than we would
have guessed in mid-2009. As opposed to
a steady recovery to 2008 volume levels
over two to three years, it now appears
these markets have sought a new, lower
volume level and will show only incremental growth in the immediate future.
Of course, that growth picture is vastly
different based on the segment you’re
talking about. We see strength in the
U.S. MSO segment as further consolidation happens, and increases in the economy sector as cost pressures force some
work in that direction.
It’s no secret that India and China
continue to boom, both in premium and
economy segments, so we see continued
strong growth there. The China market
is particularly dynamic with the rise in
power of OEMs and buying groups and
rapid growth of the economy segment.
ROW we see as a mixed bag. Premium
and economy segments in both Latin
America and Eastern Europe should see
better-than-GDP growth, as should
developing Asian countries excluding
China and India. In developed Asia, we
are looking for a modest growth outlook.
China is particularly dynamic for a
few reasons. Extremely rapid growth of
the car park in all segments is one. I’m
not sure a few years ago I would have
guessed that Porsche would sell more
cars in China in 2012 than in Germany
or that China would produce more passenger cars than the U.S. in such a
short time.
In addition, there is a huge number of
domestic OEMs fighting to grow and, in
some cases, sell internationally. There is
also a huge push on the part of existing
OEMs for central billing agreements
with the multi-national paint suppliers.
In China there is also a rapidly evolving insurance situation and a large number of local players, particularly in the
economy segments.
of our leading indicators—miles driven,
consumer confidence, claims frequency
and the vehicle repair index—show lots
of weakness. On the consumer side, many
people decided to live with minor collision
damage instead of triggering a deductible
and getting their cars repaired. On the
supplier side, shops, distributors and
paint suppliers drew down inventories to
generate more cash. I think this type of
downturn makes a lot of people in our
value chain hesitant to invest until they
see signs of a strong recovery. We see it as
a once in a decade chance to grow our
share in targeted segments.
What are your thoughts on the effect the recession has had and continues to have on the
market?
What are the current trends and issues in the
market? What challenges does the market face
moving forward in the years to come?
Robertson: Clearly the recession has had
a dramatic impact on our markets. Many
Robertson: Their are several prevalent
and impactful issues in the market such
