Market Overview

The automotive plastics market is expected to register a CAGR of over 10% during the forecast period.

  • The increasing demand for lightweight and electric vehicles is expected to drive the demand for the market during the forecast period.
  • Challenges in battery and their peripherals units are likely to hinder the market’s growth.
  • Technological development in electric vehicles is projected to act as an opportunity for the market in future.



Key Market Trends

Under Bonnet Application to Dominate the Market

  • Plastic can act as an electric conductor as well as an insulator (mainly insulator). So it plays an important role in various under bonnet applications concerning propulsion, alternative drive systems, and batteries.
  • Plastics not only make electric and hybrid automotive batteries more affordable, but also aid in value addition by replacing heavy electric cells with compensatory light weighting.
  • The plastic sensors, harnesses, connectors, seals, fuses, and capacitors that are used in ’under-the-hood’ applications in hybrid or electric vehicles help to consolidate parts, resist corrosion, and reduce noise.
  • Hybridization (the use of combined gas and electric propulsion system) has already increased the demand for efficiency, battery longevity, weight, and space savings, as well as safety standards in the automotive sector.
  • EV manufactures know that consumers demand driving ranges which are similar to driving ranges of gasoline vehicles. Plastic innovations are already assisting the manufacturers with this demand. Lithium-ion battery packs, Ni-MH battery packs, and snap-fit li-ion battery cell packs are all being made possible with plastics.
  • Improving the heat and chemical resistance of plastics in contact with some of the most demanding under bonnet applications, such as turbo chargers, is making it possible for small engines to meet high-profile performance requirements.
  • DuPont has closely worked with Ford on the EcoBoost project, in order to develop key parts of a turbo system and an injection molded resonator within the blow molded ducts that eliminate.



Germany Country to Dominate the European Region

  • The German economy is the largest in Europe and the fifth largest in the world. The country has set itself the goal of becoming the lead market and provider for electric mobility by 2020, as a part of its long-term zero emission mobility vision. The passing of the new “Electromobility law” in 2014, which is beneficial to electric vehicle owners, is providing further impetus to the country’s electric mobility revolution. By implementing appropriate policy measures and R&D funding to emerging innovations, the German federal government is ensuring that the country will play a decisive role in electric mobility.
  • The government of the country has promised to introduce 1 million electric vehicles on the road by 2020 as a part of its National Electromobility Development Plan. Three general vehicle categories have been defined to meet this objective. These consist of the all-electric urban vehicle, family vehicle, and light commercial vehicle with electric range for urban traffic.
  • In addition, the country has also set itself a battery density by volume level of 280 to 300 Wh/l by 2025, as part of the technological development of third and fourth generation batteries.
  • Germany has promised to achieve a 40% reduction on the 1990 carbon dioxide emission level by 2020. There still exist around 880 vehicle models in the country with emission level of just 130 gm/Km of carbon dioxide. More than 500 models have managed to stay below the 120 gm/Km range.
  • According to the National Electric Mobility Platform (NPE), Germany’s 2020 vision relies greatly on cross-sectoral industry approach that transcends traditional industry boundaries, in order to achieve the sustainable and systematic electromobility solutions that are required to meet the country’s ambitious target.
  • Till date, the German federal government has invested more than EUR 1.5 billion in electronic mobility development. Over the same period, the automotive industry has invested EUR 17 billion in development and commercialization activities. Moreover, the federal government has provided EUR 300 million toward expanding the charging infrastructure in the country. EUR 200 million is for rapid charging infrastructure, and EUR 100 million for normal charging.
  • Such factors are estimated to drive the market for automotive plastics in Germany country.



Competitive Landscape

The automotive plastics market is partially fragmented. Key players in the automotive plastics market include DuPont, LANXESS, Asahi Kasei Advance Corporation, BASF SE, Covestro AG, Evonik Industries AG, Celanese Corporation and Borealis AB amongst others.

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