In the global market, Japan AGC, China Fuyao Glass, Japan Asahi Glass and France Saint-Gobain are the leading companies in the international market. In 2017, these four companies together accounted for 89% of the global automotive glass market, with Fuyao Glass accounting for 22%, ranking second in the world.
Fuyao Group is the largest manufacturer of automotive glass in China, supplying only automotive manufacturers with a market share of 65%. China’s automotive industry is growing at a rapid pace, resulting in a growing demand for automotive glass, which is growing at an average annual rate of 20%.
At present, there are more than 200 auto safety glass manufacturers in China, of which about 130 are producing laminated auto glass, with an annual output of about 50 million square meters, 20% of which are exported. There are about 120 tempered auto glass enterprises with an annual output of about 50 million square meters. About five front windshield enterprises for head-up display system (HUD). And about five auto glass enterprises for plastic and glass composite materials.
Three Trends of Auto Glass Windshield
1 Auto glass lightweight
The government’s requirements for reducing fuel consumption of cars are getting stricter and stricter, and automotive factories are under pressure to gradually increase the demand for lightweight automotive glass. The main ways to achieve lightweight automotive glass are: the use of lightweight plastic materials or automotive glass thickness reduction.
The application of plastic materials in automotive glass has been on the rise in recent years. At present, plastic materials are mainly used for corner windows, side windows and / or sunroofs of electric vehicles, and a few are used for small rear corner windows of some high-end cars.
Auto glass thickness thinning effect is obvious. The amount of glass used in a single car is about 4 square meters, and if the glass thickness is reduced by 1mm, the weight of the car can be reduced by about 10kg, and the fuel consumption per 100 kilometers will be reduced by about 0.06 liters. In the case of ensuring the performance indicators, automotive suppliers reduce the glass thickness by thermal enhancement treatment of thin glass, hot glass bending process, lamination process and PVB film performance improvement to reduce the weight.
2 Auto glass functionalization and intelligence
At present, consumers’ demand for automotive comfort, safety, entertainment and aesthetics has increased, and at the same time, in order to achieve differentiated competition to attract consumers, automotive glass has become more and more additional functions as appearance, function and safety parts. The value of auto glass is only about 100 usd, accounting for less than 1% of the production cost of the car, but its function and appearance can be intuitively felt by consumers, so auto manufacturers are also willing to upgrade the auto glass. For example, auto glass with heat reflection function is a functional auto glass. In addition, the function of automotive glass tends to be integrated, especially the front windshield glass. Such as heating, sound insulation, head-up display, heat insulation, Anti-riot, and other functions are concentrated together.
Intelligent auto glass is a special treatment of the glass surface and its interior, so that the glass has automatic display, controlled dimming, and other functions. Intelligent glass is used in conjunction with related electronic components to make the control of the car easier and the driving safety better and better. Therefore, intelligent auto glass is also a major trend in auto glass.
3 Integration and modularity of automotive glass
The modular and integrated production of automotive parts will become one of the development trends of the automotive industry. Modularity and integration can help factories optimize the supply chain, reduce production costs and strengthen quality control; In addition, the modular supply of also brings opportunities to the auto glass industry, auto glass manufacturers to integrate glass with antennas, electronic components, wrap-around strips and heating lines and other accessories, which can enhance the added value of auto glass. Such as wraparound glass, glass antennas and other products are representatives of modular products.
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