IRL has released an in-depth analysis of the top global markets for automotive coatings for the first time. This report focuses specifically on the OEM, Plastic Parts and Refinishes segments for each country, providing market volumes, detailed prices, segmentations and market shares for Tier 1 countries (21 countries in total). IRL also provides top-line data (volumes, values and breakdowns by chemistry and technology) for Tier 2 countries (~90 countries).

The global automotive OEM and plastic parts coatings market was estimated by IRL at 1.97 million metric tons in 2015, with sales believed to have declined slightly mainly as a result of the declines in auto OEM production in Asia and South America. The market is starting to pick up and should reach 2.28 million metric tons by 2020. The global automotive refinish coatings market continued to grow in 2015 to reach 0.77 million metric tons sold. Asia-Pacific accounts for the largest share of sales and should be the fastest growing region over the course of the next five years.

In terms of application systems, water-based coatings already account for the majority of sales of automotive OEM coatings, mainly due to the European and North American legislation in place for these markets. This is not true for the refinishes market, where solvent-based coatings are still dominant. The market value for the global automotive coatings market was estimated at around EUR 19.5 billion/US$21.5 billion, with automotive OEM coatings accounting for the largest share of the value.

Regarding the main resins used, pure acrylic accounts for the largest share in both the OEM and refinishes markets. Epoxy-based coatings account for the second largest share of the automotive OEM coatings market, whereas polyurethane is the second largest resin type for the refinishes market.