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The primary function of the seating system is to accommodate and provide comfort for the passengers. With the increase in demand by customers for more comfort and luxury OEMs and tier 1 manufacturers are striving hard to meet the requirements of the customers. Seating system also plays a crucial role in the safety of the passengers. Airbags are incorporated within the seats and this demands for smooth seat function.
To know more about Global Automotive Seats Market, read our report
The US automotive market is dominated by pickup trucks and commercial vehicles and also the luxury car market is one of the largest in the world.
Many top selling US cars have climate-controlled seats to keep the passengers warm in extreme cold conditions. The rear heated seats come as an option in these cars.
As of May 2020, 8-way driver powered seats are a standard fitment on at least 44% of new vehicles sold in the country. US had the highest penetration for 10 & 12 way adjustable driver seats than any other region.
Leather trimmed upholstery is very popular among pickup truck buyers and offered as standard on at-least as an option on 50% of all trims.
The installation rate of Heated seats was 53% in 2019 in the pickup truck segment and it continues to gain further momentum in Jan-May 2020 as well. Dual tone upholstery is also more common on pickups than SUVs/crossovers in US.
Top seat manufacturers are Lear and Adient Group supplying major OEMs all over the world. Lear Corporation supplies its seating products to all high volume GM platforms like Chevrolet Tahoe, GMC Yukon, Cadillac Escalade etc.
In cold regions such as North America, the demand for heated seats has increased. These seating systems have a heating function which is placed inside the cushion to warm the seat and provide comfort to the passenger in winter.
The vehicles produced by General Motors are now equipped with automatic heating options that will adapt to the heating control in accordance with the temperature of the vehicle’s interior environment.
The demand for such thermal seating systems incorporated in luxury high-end vehicles have stimulated the growth of this market.
The ventilated and heated seats penetration among top sellers was the highest compared to any other market. These features were equipped in most of the variants in SUVs and were less popular in Pick-up trucks.
The climate controlled seats for the 2nd row was common in SUVs and was found in few of the variants of pick-up trucks but was not to be seen in top selling sedans. Additional features such as driver seat memory function penetration was also the highest in US.
The automotive market was projected to grow at a higher rate in the year 2020-2023, however due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the growth was hindered.
The manufacturing and production units across the globe were closed which resulted in the sales and production of vehicles and automotive components taking a hit. The growth of the automotive seat market is directly proportional to the growth in the automotive sector.
The major hit for the automotive industry is due to the shortage of semiconductor components and chips. The shortage was created mainly due to the lockdown in China and Taiwan.
The industry is now trying to recover the market but due to the excessive backlog, the shortage is affecting the automotive industry the most. Many OEMs including BMW, Audi and Tesla have announced the delay in the launch of new models and delivery of existing orders due to component shortage.
Some companies have started to use analog meters and devices from the old models to be incorporated in their vehicles.
Production units have started to operate with less capacity as lockdowns and regulations are now decreased with pandemic protocols which do not permit the units to work with 100% workforce.
For instance, China, which accounts for the highest passenger vehicle production, has resumed its operations with almost all the automotive component manufacturing companies starting production.
Of late, there has been just one transaction in the Auto seating market and that is the sell-off by US major Adient of its RECARO (Premium Seating) to Raven Acquisitions LLC completed on 1st Jan 2020.
It must be noted that Adient has a strong presence in the EV market in Europe and is also one of the suppliers to Tesla Model 3 seating, which is the world` biggest success story in terms of EV sales.
Lear, Adient and Toyota Boshoku 3 major players accounting for approximately 1/3rd of the market. Lear has been the leading supplier for premium car manufacturers.
US seating manufacturers like Lear, Adient, Bridgewater Interiors are the leading manufacturers in the US region. Magna International from Canada has been a pioneer in manufacturing seating systems completely whether it’s foam and trim, the structure or the seats.
The company Lear released the financial report for the second quarter of the year 2021 with sales worth $4.8 billion which was a whopping 95% increase from the results of the same quarter for the year 2020 with $2.4 billion, the net income of the company was $175 million
US-based Gentherm is the leading supplier of sub-components of Climate controlled seats, used on a variety of American and European OEMs.