Forecast of Auto Electronics Market

The worldwide automotive electronics market is predicted to grow at 9% for a total of $173.7 billion by 2013. Sales for 2008 are estimated at $114.5 billion. Strong growth is estimated in driver assistance, car safety systems, and entertainment while the non-entertainment sector consumer retail, powertrain, and body electronics segments will see different growth rates. According to a new research on the non-entertainment automotive electronics market, the global market of non-entertainment automotive electronics is estimated to touch US$52.1 billion by 2010. The forecast of this growth is estimated to be equally distributed among all product segments and regions. The biggest demand is expected from the emerging markets in Asia and East and Central Europe.

• The powertrain electronics will continue to dominate and it constitute 32% of the global market in last few years. It will sustain till 2010.

• The body/chassis electronics will continue to rise at an average growth of 9.4% per year till 2010. During this period, the global market will increase from US$4.0 billion to US$6.3 billion. The manufacturers are looking to enhance the performance and reduce overall system cost, so the trend to fully integrated systems will continue throughout the forecast period.

• The safety and convenience constitute almost 50% of the global non-entertainment auto electronics market at the current time. It was estimated to be at US$18.5 billion in 2005. Overall safety and convenience accounted for 50.3% of the global market in 2005 at US$18.5 billion. Multiplexing/electrical distribution, body controllers and navigation, all of them are fore casted to grow at a rapid rate till 2010. The navigation market, combined with audio and entertainment will be one of the fastest growing section of the auto electronics market. The driver supporting systems, like night vision, collision avoidance and lane departure warning is also expected to show strong growth.

Toyota Motor Corp. is the undisputed leader in hybrid car manufacturing market. Honda Motor Co. Ltd is at second spot, trying hard to grab some of Toyota's share. General Motors Corp. dominates in the United States market and has the broadest portfolio in the hybrid market. However it lags far behind in the competition in terms of sales. With the continuous improvement in hybrid technologies and decreasing manufacturing costs, the powertrain segment should experience higher growth.