Automotive OEM Coatings Market
March 2015 www.coatingsworld.com Coatings World | 55
version of color – especially in 2015 models that offer blues,
reds and yellows.
Steve Markevich, Axalta’s senior vice president and presi-
dent OEM, said that global automotive production has grown
by three to four percent in the last two years, and the impact of
steady global growth provides excellent market conditions for
Axalta’s continued investment in technology and capability.
Markevich said. “Markets in China and NAFTA have seen sig-
nificant gains while South America and Europe have had recent
challenges. As a global supplier and thus able to weather local
economic fluctuations, Axalta has benefited from the growth in
automotive production which overall has been running slightly
ahead of global GDP. The net effect has been and will likely
continue to be a need for more paint.”
Markevich said that Axalta is investing in many markets to
support growth with due emphasis on China. “We recently had
the grand opening of our new waterborne manufacturing facility
at our operations center in Shanghai. In December, we opened
a new OEM research and development lab that is adjacent to
the Shanghai facility. In addition to these hard assets, we have
been building our team and aligning our technologies to support
growth and our customers. At the same time, we are increasing
our resin capabilities in Mexico, our coatings capacity in Brazil
and expanding our waterborne production capacity in Germany
to continue to meet the demands in our global markets,” he said.
There are five mega trends that are impacting coatings,
Markevich said.
The first is the car buyer’s desire for color options and im-
proved appearance. “A vehicle remains an emotional purchase
for many car buyers and this drives a desire for a range of op-
tions and the following of trends,” he said. “Many consumers
will pay extra money or choose a car make and model to get the
color and effect that they desire. The packaging and marketing
of color and appearance creates an opportunity for our OEM
customers to stand out and to capture share or improve margins
in a very competitive environment. Axalta designs color op-
tions that will best fit the need of consumer tastes and the OEM
branding strategies designed to reach car buyers.”
Productivity is the second trend, Markevich said. The auto-
motive market is fiercely competitive. “Customers are continu-
ally looking for ways to reduce costs. The paint shop operation
is one of the largest users of energy and capital in the manu-
facturing process. As a result, our OEM customers are seeking
innovation in coatings technology that can help reduce cost,”
he said.
The third trend we see is globalization. OEMs are increasingly looking for global solutions, Markevich added. The philosophy is to engineer the product and process once and replicate it
throughout the world. This standardization improves the efficiency and quality of product launches and ongoing operations,
many of which are very far from the home office.
“The continued evolution of emerging markets remains a
persistent consistent trend,” he said. “Emerging markets are
leading GDP and GDP per capita growth. China, India, South
America and the ASEAN countries continue to show great po-
tential. Paint process capabilities and applications are still de-
veloping. To benefit from the growth, Axalta‘s strategy is to
continue to invest and grow capability with global support as
these markets evolve.
“Regulation is the final trend that affects everything we do.
The automotive industry is affected by many regulations. As a
coatings supplier, regulations regarding hazardous substances
and volatile organic content directly impact the materials that
we use to produce coatings.
“Regulations governing vehicle emissions indirectly impact
coatings suppliers as OEMs consider alternative materials and
production methods to increase the miles per gallon and reduce
the environmental impact of operating a vehicle. One result, for
example, is the increased use of lightweight plastic and compos-
ite materials that require new paint formulations which Axalta
offers,” he said.
Axalta has tracked color and effect over time in its annual
Global Color Popularity Reports, and over time, Markevich
has noticed a few interesting trends. While regional differences
continue, he said Axalta is seeing more global alignment in con-
sumer preference. Neutral colors continue to dominate although
they are giving ground to more color and chromatic versions.
Both red and blue also have seen increases globally while silver
continues to decline.
“As a result of these trends, we’ve identified Radiant Red as
the 2015 automotive color of the year in North America,” he said.
In terms of coating performance, Axalta customers are look-
ing for consistency and quality in the products we supply.
“The automotive coating process is a complex, highly auto-
mated system,” he said.
“It is not uncommon to produce 60 or more painted vehicles
an hour. The ability to maintain these high levels of production
without interruption is critical to our customers’ success. The
final painted vehicle must meet customer expectations for paint
quality, be free of defects, have a great appearance and a har-
monious color match across all parts including those painted at
other locations and attach during final assembly. Finally, as the
average age of vehicles on the road continues to increase, the
coatings are expected to provide protection and beauty for the
life of the vehicle.”
Markevich said that his R&D team is focused on address-
ing trends, color brilliance, and sustainability. “As a result, our
research covers a wide range from features that consumers are
demanding to highly productive systems to meet the need for
continuous improvement. At the same time, we are responding
to the changing regulatory environment.
“We have introduced our Vermeera technology line of premium effect and high chromatic colors to provide our customers
and their car buyers with a new level of elegance and excitement.
Our next generation AquaEC electrocoat and our new topcoats
are targeted to meet the requirements of ever-increasing regulations as well as OEM specifications that call for more productive coatings and their ability to work with advanced materials
such as carbon fiber reinforced components,” he said. CW
