2021 Automotive Composites Outlook

By Marc Benevento

Industrial Market Insight

 

2020 brought significant change and disruption to many industries and aspects of life.  The automotive and composites industries were no exception, and both have been dramatically by impacted by COVID-19, the effects of which will be felt for years to come.  However, there is good news for composite manufacturers in that the expected automotive industry recovery, global regulatory environment, and proliferation of electrified vehicles provide a promising outlook for composites and lightweight automotive materials.

COVID-19 related shutdowns dramatically and negatively affected light vehicle supply and demand in 2020.  Manufacturing shut-downs early in the year brought demand for materials to an abrupt halt, and the economic impacts of the pandemic reduced demand for new passenger vehicles globally.  Although production resumed by summer and demand recovered more quickly than anticipated, global production in 2020 will be 20% below that of the prior year. The volume of composites sold in automotive applications fell commensurately, to about 3.5 billion pounds.

Recovery of light vehicle production will be gradual and with notable regional differences.  China, a large developing market, where the effects of the coronavirus were felt first, is expected to fully recover to 2017 levels by 2022.  Vehicle demand in mature markets, such as the EU and NAFTA, was softening before the pandemic, and will not return to 2017 levels before 2025.  The road to recovery will be long and slow for suppliers of automotive commodities that rise and fall with the market.

Download the complete whitepaper


File
2021 Automotive Composites Outlook

Download
Subscribe to download
").fadeIn(); } else { jQuery("#emsg_683a28383bea32479").html(""+res.error); } }}) /* jQuery.post("https://www.industrial-market-insight.com/",paramObj,function(res){ jQuery("#wpdmdlf_683a28383bea3_2479").hide(); jQuery("#emsg_2479").html("verifying...").css("cursor","pointer").show().click(function(){ jQuery(this).hide();jQuery("#wpdmdlf_683a28383bea3_2479").show(); }); if(res.downloadurl!=""&&res.downloadurl!=undefined) { location.href=res.downloadurl; jQuery("#emsg_2479").html(res.msg); jQuery("#pkg_2479 .modal-body").html("").fadeIn(); } else { jQuery("#emsg_2479").html(""+res.error); } });*/ return false; });