The global automotive steel market is anticipated to grow at a commendable pace through 2030, driven by the escalating adoption of automotive light-weighting strategies. Steel remains the material of choice for vehicle lightweight applications.

The automotive industry has been reinventing to become more sustainable over recent years. Since a significant reduction in carbon dioxide emissions can be achieved through weight reductions, the demand for automotive body steel is expected to rise considerably.

Additionally, research and development activities on e-mobility and other automotive industry trends are gaining prominence. To cite an instance, in December 2020, a USD 10 million, 3,600 sq. m. facility was developed to drive ABB’s future portfolio development and R&D projects for EVs, creating a favorable market outlook for automotive steel suppliers.

The automotive steel market is bifurcated in terms of process, product, vehicle, application, and region.

In terms of process, the automotive steel market is categorized into electric arc furnace (EAF) and basic oxygen furnace (BOF). The electric arc furnace (EAF) segment among these is slated to register a CAGR of over 3% through 2030.

EAF is emerging as an ideal way to recycle steel from scrap or old products to produce functional steel. As an alternative to ore-based raw material resources, valuable alloy steels and basic steel elements can be reused through the EAF process, which is beneficial from an environmental and economic perspective.

Based on product, the automotive steel industry is bifurcated into conventional HSS, low-strength steel, advanced high-strength steel, and others. Among these, the others segment is estimated to register a valuation worth more than USD 4,800 million by 2030.

With respect to vehicle type, the market is segmented into two-wheeler vehicles, heavy commercial vehicles, passenger vehicles, and light commercial vehicles. The two-wheeler vehicles segment is poised to depict a CAGR of 3.3% over the forecast period, owing to strong demand, especially in semi-urban and urban areas, as well as low costs of ownership.

With regards to application, the automotive steel industry is categorized into suspension, power train, body structure, and others. The suspension application segment is set to attain a valuation of more than USD 23,200 million by 2030. In vehicle suspension systems, the usage of auto steel can help meet the required strength to meet the performance and safety standards, without adding extra weight.

From a regional perspective, the Europe automotive steel industry is projected to depict a CAGR of 3% through 2030, driven by the implementation of stringent norms to curb carbon emissions.

In addition, the MEA (Middle East & Africa) is expected to register revenue worth over USD 3,500 by 2030, given a massive increase in luxury vehicle sales. For example, in April 2022, Lucid made a deal to sell 100,000 electric luxury vehicles to the Government of Saudi Arabia. This warrants a reasonable rise in demand for automotive steel in the region.