Global market review of automotive electric motors - forecasts to 2014

Electric motors can adjust seats and headlights, power side windows and mirrors, assist braking and steering, and are found in anything that has an electrical movement or solenoid function. With as many as 120 electric motors stuffed into a luxury car, manufacturers are finding some novel ways in which to package them. As electric motors proliferate around the car, manufacturers have developed lighter and more compact units. Manufacturers are also working on ways to reduce the size of automotive electric motors while retaining or improving existing performance. Overall, the main drivers of electric motor development are power density, size, weight, noise and functionality.

This report provides a global review of the market for automotive electric motors, providing top level market fitment, volume and value forecasts through 2014. Our forecasts are not extrapolative but dependent on the underlying drivers of supply and demand. Our forecasts are largely based on interviews with the author’s extensive international network of industry contacts. This allows us to consider and explain the meaning and implications of industry events, rather than offer simple description based on incomplete data. All forecast data in this report has been conducted using recent interviews, therefore taking into account the recent economic downturn.

In this, the fifth edition of this report, which is 2,000 words longer than the previous edition, just-auto reviews the key market drivers for electric motors, and updates the market analysis.

Following Chapter 1's introduction, chapter two provides a market overview, looking at the major players' latest activities.

Following this, just-auto’s product fitment forecasts in Chapter 2 present full historic and forecast annual data for all key auto market segments from 2004 through to 2014 (both volume and value) in Europe, Japan and North America.

There are individual volume and value data tables for the major applications of electric motors including: electric parking brakes, rearview mirrors, seat adjustment mechanisms, steering systems, sunroofs, window lift mechanisms and wiper systems.

Chapter 3 sets out profiles of the major manufactures, namely ArvinMeritor, Bosch, Brose, Denso, Globe Motors, Johnson Electric, Mitsuba and Nidec.

Extracts of interviews with the industry's leading executives are provided throughout the report.

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Report extract:

While electric DC motors have long since raised the comfort levels for front seat passengers, there are signs that such motors are appearing in the rear seats too. Imtiyaz Syed, vice president, engineering, Intier Automotive Seating, told us: “Power is definitely coming to the rear seats as well. For example, rear seat heating systems are fairly common in premium cars. There are also powered stow systems in the third row whereby just pressing a button, the whole articulation takes places so that the seat folds and stows into the floor automatically. We have also developed the ability to power removable seats. With our design, the seat is automatically connected and powered when installed in the vehicle and disconnected when removed without the consumer having to [physically] disconnect the seat before removing it.”

“That is in production on the Chrysler minivan Swivel Seats,” added Randy Koenigsknecht, vice president, sales and marketing, Intier Automotive Seating. “We had to make it very robust and almost invisible to the customer so that they do not even realise that the connection/disconnection is being made and, of course, they do not experience any error in that connection.”

“But it doesn’t stop there,” said Syed. “The Lincoln MKX and Ford Edge feature powered seat back fold down on their rear seats. I think that the power growth trend for the rear seat will continue for some time to come.”

Guido Wolfs, senior product business manager, JCI, told us: “We are not a manufacturer of DC electric motors, only a user of them. In our products, we use electric motors produced by various international manufacturers. In the case of customer orders, the motor chosen depends on the actual specifications of the automaker concerned. In the case of new product developments that are independent of any OEM, a decision is reached based on the required performance and cost-effectiveness of the motor for the individual project.”