MOSCOW (MRC) -- The global automotive plastics consumption market revenue is expected to grow from USD21,617 mln in 2012 to USD46112 mln by 2018 at an estimated CAGR of 13.4% from 2013 to 2018, as per Plastemart with reference to MarketsandMarkets.
In 2012, Asia-Pacific was leading in the Automotive Plastics Consumption volume by 50.5%, followed by Europe (28%), North America (11.3%), and rest of the world (10.1%). Among these regions polypropylene leads consumption by 37%, followed by polyurethanes (PU) (17.3%), acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) (12.3%), composites (11.5%), high density polyethylene (HDPE) (10.8%), polycarbonates (PC) (6.8%), and polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) (4.4%), due to their easy forming properties and their availability at cheaper price than other materials.
The researchers on light weight plastic materials such as composite materials, reinforced plastics, and polymers have come up with improved material qualities that make them suitable for use in interior, exterior and under bonnet components of automobiles. The careful selection of these automotive plastics is very important in the industry as it enables designers to improve durability, meet load bearing requirements, and achieve reduction in vehicle weight. The Automotive Plastics are among one of the widely preferred alternatives for light-weighting of automobile as they offer enhanced properties such as superior impact strength, easy mold-ability, improved aesthetics, and reduced weight as compared to conventional automotive components such as High speed steel (HSS) and Aluminum. The increasing demand of passenger cars and the supply to fulfill the same in Asia-Pacific is one of the main drivers for increasing consumption of automotive plastics globally.
As MRC wrote previously, BASF has set up a new Coatings Technical Competence Center ASEAN in Bangkok, Thailand, aimed at ASEAN growing automotive market. This new facility supports technical and laboratory activities mainly in motorcycle coatings including technology transfer, product development, performance testing, color design and development, and houses a sales and marketing team as well as a technical service team of more than 20 professionals, all catering to motorcycle manufacturers in the ASEAN region.
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