Zhongyuan Securities: The interior and exterior automotive components will develop in synergy along the direction of intelligence, with the future industry landscape steadily increasing in concentration and structural differentiation

According to the report from Zhongyuan Securities, the products of automotive interior and exterior components are diverse, with fundamental changes in positioning and functionality. Currently, they are developing in coordination along several major directions: "intelligent, lightweight, environmentally friendly, personalized, and comfortable." In the long run, the competitive landscape of the industry will show a trend of steadily increasing concentration and structural differentiation coexisting. In the future, market share will gradually shift towards two types of companies: first, leading enterprises with systematic solution capabilities; second, Chinese local suppliers with faster response times and better cost control.

The main viewpoints of Zhongyuan Securities are as follows:

Automotive interior and exterior components are important parts of the automotive body system, divided into automotive interior components and automotive exterior components, with a wide variety of products.

Automotive interior components are a series of important parts that make up the vehicle's cockpit and passenger compartment, mainly including: dashboards, steering wheels, seats, door trim panels, door pillar trim panels, door handles, sun visors, armrest boxes, ceilings, carpets, etc. Automotive exterior components are assembled on the outside of the vehicle, mainly including: bumpers, front grilles, lights, wipers, exterior rearview mirrors, air conditioning intake grilles, spoilers, door handles, etc.

The global automotive interior and exterior market is steadily growing, and China's automotive interior and exterior industry is developing rapidly, with the market size accounting for over 30% of the global total.

The steady growth of global automotive production and sales provides a continuously large demand base for the automotive interior and exterior market, becoming the core driving force for industry development, pushing the global automotive interior and exterior components market size to steadily increase, expected to reach USD 224.23 billion by 2031. Focusing on the Chinese market, by 2024, automotive production and sales will exceed 30 million units, and the market share of new energy vehicles will break 40%, directly driving the volume and price of domestic automotive interior and exterior components to rise simultaneously. Coupled with the automotive industry's transition to electrification and intelligence, as well as consumers' increasing demands for driving and riding experiences, the per-vehicle value of automotive interior and exterior components in China is further showing a year-on-year growth trend. The positioning and functionality of automotive interior and exterior components have fundamentally changed, currently developing in coordination along several major directions: "intelligent, lightweight, environmentally friendly, personalized, and comfortable."

The global automotive interior and exterior industry exhibits a relatively dispersed competitive landscape with low concentration.

Due to the complexity of segmented interior and exterior products, significant differences in functionality and processes, relatively low technical barriers, and strong stability in supply chain cooperation, the industry concentration is relatively low. Data from 2022 shows that the global market CR3 for passenger vehicle interior and exterior components (excluding seats and vehicle lights) is only 33.56%. In the global leading camp, apart from traditional giants from Europe and Japan, Chinese companies represented by Yanfeng Automotive Interiors are rapidly rising and occupying leading positions in the industry. Focusing on the Chinese passenger vehicle interior and exterior market, it also shows a pattern of "leading by the head, with dispersed competition," with the industry CR5 at 38.95% in 2024, close to the global concentration level. In the long run, the competitive landscape of the industry will show a trend of steadily increasing concentration and structural differentiation coexisting, with future market share gradually shifting towards two types of companies: first, leading enterprises with systematic solution capabilities; second, Chinese local suppliers with faster response times and better cost control The automotive interior and exterior decoration industry A-share listed companies are concentrated in the eastern coastal regions and clustered around vehicle manufacturers

The automotive interior and exterior parts industry primarily targets the vehicle market, characterized by large volume and high storage and transportation costs, necessitating proximity to major manufacturers. Therefore, its regional distribution is largely consistent with the automotive industry. Currently, China has gradually formed six major automotive industry clusters—Yangtze River Delta, Pearl River Delta, Southwest, Northeast, Central, and Bohai Rim. Among the A-share listed companies in the automotive industry under CITIC, there are a total of 29 companies whose main business and products involve automotive interior and exterior decoration, with key listed companies including: Huayu Automotive, Xingyu Co., Ltd., Top Group, Ningbo Huaxiang, Jifeng Co., Ltd., Fuwei Co., Ltd., Xinquan Co., Ltd., Shenda Co., Ltd., JMPT, Daimay Co., Ltd., and Changshu Automotive Trim