European Automotive Light Market Is 8 Years Ahead of US: just-auto.com Forecasts Global Market to 2010

    LONDON, Feb. 13 http://www.just-auto.com -- Light is
entering a new dimension -- soon cars will have light beams that bend around
corners, lengthen when the car is going fast, shorten and widen when the car
slows down and beams that are connected to the steering so the light turns
with the car.

    HID
    A summary of the report at
http://just-auto.com/store/products_detail.asp?art=11292 says that
high-intensity discharge (HID) headlamps are gradually replacing halogen bulbs
across all car segments.

    Forecast to 2010
    In Europe, just-auto.com estimates that 7% of all cars built in Europe
last year featured HID, rising to 23% by 2005 and 42% by 2010.
In Japan, growth will rise from 8% fitment this year, to 20% by 2005, rising
to 35% by 2010.  In North America, fitment rates should rise from 1% fitment
last year, to 8% by 2005 and 17% fitment by 2010.

    LEDs
    Light emitting diode (LED) lights are gradually replacing incandescent
bulbs as they prove to have many benefits over conventional bulbs.  Expected
to last the life of a vehicle, the LEDs only use 20% of the electrical power
of incandescent bulbs.  Additionally, LEDs illuminate faster, which in turn
improves driver response.  Even better news is that some manufacturers expect
LED headlamps to enter production by 2010.

    For the summary and to purchase the full report see:
http://just-auto.com/store/products_detail.asp?art=11292

    just-auto.com is the premier online portal for automotive industry
professionals worldwide.  Targeted specifically at industry and business
professionals the site provides a single point of reference for independent
automotive industry information.