Automotive piston market to grow six percent as aluminum dominates

Automotive pistons are in demand as vehicle production climbs, but the trend is not without its challenges as a there is a growing shift in popularity to electric cars and smaller engines with fewer cylinders per vehicle.

Newer technology can leave engines like this inline 6-cylinder design in the history books.

For key companies in the industry like Mahle GmbH (Germany), Aisin-Seiki Co. Ltd. (Japan), Rheinmetall AG (Germany), Hitachi Ltd. (Japan) and Federal-Mogul Corporation (U.S.) the consumer trend toward electric cars could force piston engine manufacturers to improve efficiency or fade into the past.

China, South Korea and India are the main contributors to the growth of the automotive piston system market in the Asia-Oceania region where many OEM’s are expanding to meet huge demand. Emerging from their 2008 recession, the North American market is estimated to lead the automotive industry alongside the European market in technological advancements according to a report by MarketsandMarkets.

The report, “Automotive Piston System Market by Component (Piston, Piston Ring, Piston Pin), by Material type (Steel & Aluminum), by Coating type (Dry Film Lubricants, Thermal Barriers, Oil Shedding), and Region – Industry Trends & Forecast to 2019”, predicts a growth at a CAGR (Combined Annual Growth Rate) of 5.84 percent between 2014-2019.

The report further notes a continued demand for lightweight pistons, which has kept aluminum as the popular material used for IC engines, predicting up to 458 million units by 2019 with the remainder being steel.

Aluminum's popularity over Steel for use in IC engines holds strong across multiple regions according to diagram by MarketstoMarkets.

Classifying and defining the global automotive piston system market size in terms of volume and value, the report also covers intelligence regarding market drivers, restraints, opportunities and challenges found in the automotive piston system market.