Key findings of the recently released Allied Market Research study, World Automotive 3D printing Market,” are:

–Automotive 3D printing market should exhibit a remarkable growth during the forecast period (2016 – 2022), attributed to the increasing automotive demand.

–Stereolithography will continue to maintain its leading position as a widely used technology during the forecast period.

–Prototyping and tooling applications constituted nearly four-fifths of the market share in 2015 and will continue to maintain its leading position till 2022.

–Europe and Asia-Pacific regions will exhibit promising growth due to increasing awareness and adoption of the technology, and declining prices.

–Industry participants will focus on introducing new products with innovations and partnerships to improve their market share.

–Dominant players in the automotive 3D printing market include 3D Systems, Inc.; Stratasys Ltd.; Optomec Inc.; and others. These market players are primarily focusing on development of new technology, launching novel products with innovative variations and adopting partnership and collaboration as key strategies to establish their position in the market.

The report forecasts that the world automotive 3D printing market would garner revenue of $2.4 billion by 2022, registering a CAGR of 21.8% during the period 2016 – 2022. Europe would emerge as the leading market over the forecast period, followed by Asia-Pacific and North America. Automotive companies worldwide would adopt 3D printing technology, primarily for prototyping and tooling applications.

The automotive industry, one of the biggest industries across the world, is witnessing tough competition among the operating players. The players are consolidating all their efforts into minimizing the material usage and reducing manufacturing lead time and associated costs. 3D printing technology is exhibiting widespread applications within the automotive sector for prototyping and tooling, R&D and product innovation applications. However, the lack of skilled labor and high cost of 3D technology are key restraining factors, limiting the market growth.

Different technologies such as stereolithography, fused deposition modeling, selective laser sintering, laminated object manufacturing and electron beam melting are used in the automotive sector for 3D printing. Stereolithography is the most commonly used technology, as it facilitates fast production of complex parts. Among the other aforementioned technologies, fused deposition modeling and selective laser sintering, would emerge as the popular technologies adopted for 3D printing in the automotive industry.

Prototyping and tooling, would be the primary application segment, since it reduces the product manufacturing time and additional costs associated with outsourcing tasks. Apart from prototyping and tooling, 3D printing also finds major application in manufacturing of complex parts. It helps in reducing the manufacturing time and material wastage by manufacturing the parts with minimal defects. Materials such as polymers, metal & alloys, are commonly used for 3D printing. Nowadays, polymers are the most prominently used materials to manufacture automotive parts using 3D printing.

North America presently constitutes the highest market share across the world for 3D printing technology, owing to early adoption and awareness of the aforementioned technology. Growing automotive production in Europe and Asia-Pacific would result in the increasing adoption of 3D printing in these regions over the forecast period. The declining prices of the technology would facilitate the market growth in major automotive production countries such as China, Japan and Brazil.

The report is available at Allied Market Research.