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Providata: Airbag Industry Growth Continues; Consolidation Slows

22 July 1998

Global Airbag Industry's Explosive Growth Continues as Consolidation Slows, According to New Study by PROVIDATA

    SOUTHGATE, Mich., July 22 -- By 2005, the global airbag
industry will produce more than 180.2 million airbag modules annually, more
than doubling the 81.1 million produced during the 1999 calendar year,
according to a new automotive competitive intelligence study released today by
PROVIDATA.
    The 1,200-page Automotive Airbag Market, 1998-2005, developed by
PROVIDATA, the automotive industry's leading component market research firm,
profiles all aspects of the airbag industry, including manufacturing,
technology and globalization.  The new report also forecasts which companies
will be active as new entrants, purchasers, sellers or abandon the industry
altogether.
    "PROVIDATA estimates that 75 percent of the global airbag industry's
consolidation is completed," said Scott D. Upham, president of PROVIDATA.
"Several medium-size acquisitions will take place during the next two years,
but several of the major airbag component companies have reached significant
mass.  This means that they can no longer acquire each other, but only add
small 'bolt-on' companies."
    The industry will face design and manufacturing changes as well.
    "The transition to hybrid, heated gas, liquid and solid pyrotechnic
non-azide inflator technologies is progressing at a much greater rate than
expected," said Michael W. Whittaker, director of automotive component
consulting for PROVIDATA.  "Hybrid, tetrazole, ammonium nitrate and helium
and hydrogen-based inflation technologies are likely to displace sodium azide-
based propellants completely by the 2005 calendar year."
    "By 2003, infrared, ultrasonic and transducer-based occupant-sensing
systems will be utilized by automakers to detect occupant presence, weight and
position and customize airbag module performance to meet this criteria," Upham
added.
    The study also notes that, by 2005, global airbag component production
will shift from North American and West European areas to lower-cost regions
such as Eastern Europe, Southeast Asia, China and South America.
    The Automotive Airbag Market, 1998-2005 contains more than 150 competitive
intelligence profiles of airbag system and component supplier profiles
(producers of airbag modules, covers, cushions, fabric, fibers, coatings,
inflators, propellants, initiators, canisters, filters, sensors, electronics,
connectors and steering wheels) and more than 30 manufacturer profiles.
    PROVIDATA's Automotive Airbag Market, 1998-2005 is the largest and most
complete market research study ever conducted on the expanding global airbag
market.
    PROVIDATA provides affordably priced products and services to the global
automotive industry, including proprietary research reports, competitive
intelligence analyses, Windows-based component databases and multi-client
automotive studies of the airbag, 4WD, chassis, interior, exterior,
electronics and component sectors of the global automotive industry.