In the past decade, steel fuel tanks were majorly used by automotive producers, whereas in the current scenario, plastic fuel tanks are being mostly used. The key reasons for the drop in demand for steel fuel tanks are safety, weight, permeability, packaging and cost associated with it. Around 95% of the total fuel tanks in Europe, 85% in U.S. and 40% in Asia are made of plastic. The main reasons behind the increased use of plastic fuel tanks are its light weight, resistance to corrosion, and ease of molding into unusual shapes.
The automotive fuel tank market is driven by increasing trend of vehicle weight reduction, growing global vehicle production, and norms pertaining to evaporative emission. The increasing demand for vehicles, coupled with capacity expansion by OEMs in emerging economies has driven the global production of vehicles. The production volume for passenger car and light commercial vehicles (LCV) in Asia-Pacific accounted for more than 50% of the global production. The increasing production in the region is complimented by intensifying demand for passenger cars and LCV in the region. The improving economy and standard of living in countries such as China and India have resulted in increased sales volume of automotive. The high automotive production volume in Asia-Pacific has made it an attractive fuel tank market.
By 2022, Asia-Pacific is expected to be the largest automotive fuel tank market, followed by North America and Europe. Asia-Pacific is also expected to be the fastest growing market for automotive fuel tank during the forecast period, owing to the expected increase in the sales and production of vehicles, increasing demand for lightweight vehicles, and strict government regulation. In 2015, China, South Korea, India, and Japan were the major consumers of automotive fuel tank in the region.
Some of the major competitors in the global automotive fuel tank market include Benteler AG, TI Automotive Inc., Yachiyo Industry Co. Ltd., Magna International Inc., Kautex Textron Gmbh & Co. KG., FTS Co., Ltd., The Plastic Omnium Group, Martinrea International Inc., Unipres Corporation, YAPP Automotive Parts Co., Ltd., and SMA Serbatoi S.P.A.
Market Segmentation
By Material
