Automotive OEM Coatings Market
According to Chris Toomey, BASF’s senior vice president of
Coatings Solutions, North America, his company sees growth
due to increased automaking.
“When the automakers build more vehicles, BASF sells
more coatings products,” Tommey said. “We also see continued
growth outside that based on new technologies we’re develop-
ing and our quality products.”
Toomey said that BASF has strengthened its local presence
in China with its latest plant for automotive OEM coatings
in Shanghai.
“In addition, we’re currently building another plant that pro-
duces binders, which will start production in the second half of
2015,” Toomey said. “In the future, we will continue to invest in
research and development, application technology and produc-
tion capacities in emerging markets. In the field of automotive
refinish, we opened the first training center for automotive refin-
ish paint in Johannesburg.”
In terms of the latest trends and technologies driving the
market, Toomey said that there are three. “One is process im-
provement to increase the efficiency in the application of the
different paint layers. BASF pioneered the integrated process
that eliminates one of the baking steps for OEMs. The second is
product technology. Designers want to differentiate with color.
Our color designers work with the OEMs to develop attractive
and unique colors. The third driver is lightweighting. Different
substrates require adjustments to the coating layers to ensure
proper adhesion etc.,” he said.
Every year, BASF’s global color design team predicts future
color trends. The latest trend show, Toomey said, which was
entitled Under the Radar, featured five trends for North America
that will debut on cars in the next two to three years. Some of
those colors are a light blue, a rich orange and a soft green.
Regarding coating performance, Toomey said that color is
a big part of the car design. “Automakers want high performing, quality and reliable coatings to help attract buyers to their
brands. BASF continually works to improve efficiency and sustainability into the coatings material and processes,” he said.
Finally, Toomey said that BASF’s research and development
is built around color performance, basecoats and clearcoats and
waterborne processes. “We have best-in-class products and we
continue to push the envelope and look to improve what are
already strong products,” Toomey concluded.
Cindy Niekamp, senior vice president of Automotive
Coatings at PPG, said that PPG’s automotive OEM coatings
business continues to perform well, growing above market rates.
“In the fourth quarter, the business delivered solid volume
growth,” Niekamp said. “In 2014 overall, PPG’s automotive
OEM coatings business was strong in North America and Asia
Pacific and we experienced growth in Europe as well. Long term,
the market for automotive OEM coatings is expected to continue
to grow nicely, likely around four to five percent, led by build
growth in Asia and Latin America. Due to our broad global foot-
print, we expect to continue to leverage these positive economic
trends for continued growth in the automotive OEM coatings.”
Niekamp added that PPG has benefited from being well-
positioned in China and other emerging regions, where it has
taken advantage of customers building new greenfield plants,
and converting to newer paint shop technologies. “PPG’s posi-
tion as a leader in many of these technologies has allowed us to
grow in high growth countries with some of the most successful
car makers,” she said.
“In addition to our technology, we have continued to localize
production and services in China and emerging regions. For ex-
ample, our manufacturing facility in Tianjin, China has become
the largest volume paint plant in PPG globally. And, we continue
to expand paint and resin capacity in China. In 2014, we an-
nounced investments in facilities in San Juan del Rio, Mexico
and Sumare, Sao Paulo, Brazil that will allow us to meet in-
creased demand for automotive coatings in those regions.”
“Another key driver for research and development invest-
ment is energy. As automakers continue to look for innovative
ways to enhance fuel efficiency, PPG’s products help custom-
ers make lightweight vehicles that meet environmental require-
ments. OEMs are using more lightweight metals for auto bodies
and auto body components (such as the new Ford F150). PPG
works in partnership with our customers to offer solutions that
allow their paint shops to adapt to this more complex environ-
ment, while ensuring continued quality and colorful finishes.
We also work with them to reduce energy costs in their energy-
intensive paint shop processes.”
To conserve water use, the paint shop has become a focal
point for auto manufacturers. PPG is launching its Green Logic
Matrix and Green Logic Ultimate in 2015. The system enabled by
GreenLogic Matrix uses about 15,000 gallons to fill compared with
200,000 gallons used in a traditional system. GreenLogic Ultimate
contains an optimized blend of polymers, three of which are derived
from plant materials. In addition, the company’s ZIRCOBOND
pretreatment cut water use, waste and energy costs – it can save
the average North American assembly plant 16 million gallons of
water annually, Niekamp said. In addition to the GreenLogic prod-
ucts, PPG’s Enviro-Prime 7000 hyper-throwpower electrocoat also
Source: The CHEMARK Consulting Group, Inc. 2015
