Overview:
The growing world economy has created a positive environment for the automobile industry to flourish. The automotive industry contributes significantly to the world GDP. The increasing demand for automobiles directly impacts the demand for related components such as automotive windshields. Moreover, countries such as China and India which has witnessed a significant rise in the demand for automobiles in recent years, a factor further contributing to the increasing demand for automotive windshields. In addition, windshields form an integral part of any vehicles considering the fact that it forms a critical safety component. Moreover, it performs the crucial function of protecting from debris, dust, UV rays and harmful radiation.
One of the most prominent factors complimenting the automotive windshields market growth is the rising motor vehicle production across the world. With increasing net disposable income and improving standard of living, people are in a better position to invest in buying cars. The aforementioned sentence is justified by the fact that the global motor vehicle production has continuously witnessed a year-on-year increase since 2010. In 2017, this growth was 2.36% over 2016. China and India in particular have remained in the forefront in this context, thanks chiefly to it expanding middle class population. Moreover, the fact that various automobile manufacturers are introducing new entry level cars and compact SUVs is further supporting this growth. Another important factor aiding the automotive windshields market growth is growing integration of technology into windshields. In recent years, it has been observed that technology integration in windshields has increased and the trend is expected to continue in the years to come. Some examples of technology integrated windshields include collision avoidance systems with a camera and radar located on the windshield, night vision with an infrared camera mounted on the windshield and windshield-embedded video sensors as part of the lane departure alert system among others.
However, high cost of smart windshields is one of the restraints impacting the market growth negatively. Moreover, limited awareness among consumers pertaining to the benefits of smart windshields is another factor restricting the market growth.
Some of the recent trends impacting the automotive windshield market include the application of smart windshields as ad billboard inside a car. For instance, Corning, Inc. has plans to offer carmakers the same glass that is used in Apple iPhones for windshields. Similarly, windshields that can be used as video screens are under development. These windshields once developed will be capable of playing targeted localized information.
Global Automotive Windshields Market is segmented into the following categories:
- By Application
- Front Windshields
- Rear Windshields
- By Glass Type
- By Vehicle Type
- Passenger Cars
- Heavy Commercial Vehicles (HCVs)
- Light Commercial Vehicles (LCVs)
- By Geography
- North America
- Europe
- Asia Pacific
- Rest of the World (RoW)
Key Players Identified in the automotive windshields market include but are not limited to:
Nippon Sheet Glass, Saint-Gobain, Fuyao Glass, Asahi Glass, Vitro, Xinyi Glass, Dura Automotive, Sisecam Group, Magna International, Guardian Industries and Central Glass among others.
