Industry Overview
Global automotive relay market size is anticipated to reach USD 12 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 6.2% from 2014 to 2020. Increasing demand for high-frequency signals in automotive industry is expected to drive demand growth over the next six years. It enhances driving experience and provides greater safety for consumers.
Escalating adoption rate of sophisticated electronic equipment has increased the usage of relays in vehicles. It advances the location-based services, safe airbag deployment and communications system notification. These features are expected to spur the demand over the forecast period from 2014 to 2020. Demand in convenience application was valued over USD 2,500 million in 2013. Asia Pacific dominated the regional demand in terms of volume, with over a demand of 446 million units in 2013, growing at a CAGR of 6% from 2014 to 2020.
Government initiatives regarding safety is expected to fuel automotive relay market growth over the forecast period. Strict norms of government for the usage of safety devices such as airbags, back up sensing system, and seatbelts among others in automotive industry is expected to drive the demand growth over the next six years. For instance, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has a legislative mandate under Title 49 of the United States Code, to issue Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) to which motor vehicle equipment must certify compliance.
Lack of standardization is expected to hinder industry growth over the forecast period. Production standards vary from country to country vary from country to country, thus relays are selected on the basis of an individual manufacturer’s design. In addition, unavailability of standard product in the local market may also pose a challenge to the industry over next few years.
Application Overview
Driver information is projected to be fastest growing application segment and accounted for over 5% of the industry share in 2014 growing at an estimated CAGR of over 6 % from 2014 to 2020. It provides location services, navigation, and traffic & weather information to the users. Increasing communication speed coupled with smartphone proliferation is expected to strengthen the adoption of these systems, which in turn drive global demand.
Powertrain systems hold the second largest share in the industry, growing at a CAGR of over 4% over the forecast period. In 2013, the share of safety & security and body & chassis segment was over 19.5% and 16.5% respectively.
Product Overview
PCB replay was the leading product segment and was valued over USD 5,500 million in 2013. It is expected to gain significant automotive relay market share and reach over USD 8,500 million at a CAGR of 6% from 2014 to 2020. Miniaturization of electromechanical relays has facilitated the adoption rate in congested spaces, thus escalating their utility.
Plug-in relays was the second largest product segment and accounted for over 32% share of the overall revenue in 2013, growing at an estimated CAGR of over 5% from 2014 to 2020. Increasing usage of electronic control modules along with electronic components has consequently generated the need for smaller relays capable of carrying high current loads.
Regional Overview
Asia Pacific automotive relay market dominated demand with valuation of over USD 4,000.0 million in 2013. This region is also expected to be the fastest growing region, growing at a CAGR of 7% from 2014 to 2020. Low labor costs and availability of raw materials have transformed the region into an automotive manufacturing hub, which has consequently increased the overall demand growth.
Europe automotive relay market was the second largest regional segment and accounted for more than 24% of the total industry share in 2013. This is primarily due to the presence of major key participants in the region. North America was valued over USD 1,500 million in 2013 and is anticipated to witness moderate growth rates over the forecast period.
Competitive Market Share
Relay manufacturers such as Omron, Fujitsu, Littelfuse, and TE procure components from several suppliers. A few of them also acquire existing relay and other electronic components manufacturing firms. For instance, Littelfuse acquired Accel AB, a manufacturer of switches and relays in 2012.
Automotive manufacturers and OEMs integrate the relays in the vehicle’s circuit, based on the respective applications. They form tie-ups and alliances with service centers to ensure proper maintenance and replacement of relays.
