The global automotive HVAC market size is expected to increase significantly over the next seven years on account of growing middle-class population and per capita income levels. Increasing awareness towards comfort is leading to the growth of this industry. Moreover, car rental companies including Ola, Uber, Meru and Taxi for sure provide air conditioning as standard to their customers and this is expected to boost the market growth.
The growing automobile industry is anticipated to be a key growth driver for the HVAC industry. The increase in personal and public vehicle demand is expected to drive automotive HVAC industry size over the upcoming years. Time spent in cars has been increasing owing to the increase in travelling trend and is expected to propel the HVAC industry growth over the forecast period.
The air conditioning system operations require considerable power and have a negative effect on fuel economy. Growing investment in R&D is expected to enhance technological capabilities and vehicle performances, which will spur industry growth over the next seven years. Moreover, government norms and regulations to curb global warming will lead to the implementation of green technology and energy efficient solutions.
The presence of key players and high initial investment is expected to restrict entry of new players. Automobile manufacturers enter into extended term service agreements with component vendors, therefore new players may face complications to become partners and win new agreements. Automobile manufacturers might not shift to new players owing to reliability, quality, cost and lead time concerns.
Global automotive HVAC market is segmented into heavy commercial vehicles (HCVs), light commercial vehicles (LCVs) and passenger vehicles. Rising per capita income, consumer surplus and availability of various easy finance schemes are expected to augment growth in the future. Commercial vehicle HVAC market is expected to grow considerably over the forecast period owing to the need for comfortable transport facilities. Passenger vehicle HVAC market is anticipated to witness significant growth over the next seven years on account of growing demand for personal vehicles.
On the basis of technology, it is categorised into manual systems and automatic systems. In manual systems, users have to select the blower settings and temperature manually and the demand for this system is expected to decline in the future on account of complexity. The demand for automatic system is expected to rise over the next seven years in light of their ease of use and less complexity.
Asia Pacific automotive HVAC industry is expected to witness significant growth owing to the presence of the key automobile manufacturers and growing demand for automobiles in developing countries including China, India and South Korea. Japan is the home to some of the largest automobile manufacturing companies in the world such as Toyota and Honda. Increasing production capacities, investment in R&D and requirement for hybrid technology in the automobile sector is expected to drive the HVAC industry growth over the forecast period. Moreover, favourable government policies including 100% foreign direct investment is expected to augment industry growth over the upcoming years.
Europe is the home to advanced automobile manufacturing companies like Mercedes Benz, Volkswagen, Audi, Volvo and BMW, who have been employing HVACs in almost all of their vehicles and is likely to witness further market augmentation in light of growing demand for passenger cars in the future.
North America and Latin America automotive HVAC markets are expected to witness substantial growth on account of increasing automobile production, facility expansion and developing the economic condition. Moreover, increasing disposable income in the U.S. is expected to promote automotive growth in the future. In addition, Mexico and Brazil have been developing as automobile manufacturing hubs for the development of low cost and value for money passenger vehicles. The demand is expected to be driven by rising demand for low cost and value for money passenger vehicles.
Key industry participants include Denso Corporation, Air International Thermal Systems, DelStar Technologies, Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH & Co. Kg, Hanon Systems, Calsonic Kansei and Engineered Plastic Components. Other prominent participants include Valeo Group, Johnson Electric, Japan Climate Systems Corporation, Sensata Technologies, Mahle Behr GmbH and Sanden Holdings Corporation.
In January 2013, Valeo Group released passenger cabin air conditioning filter that helps in the reduction of allergies inside the vehicle cabin during air filtration.
In August 2012, Japan Climate Systems Corporation announced that their Hiroshima plant’s total HVAC production had exceeded 10 million units.
