Global and China Automotive Seat Motor Industry Report, 2020-2026

The automotive seat is a key integral part of a car in relation to ride comfort and safety, and it is growing ever versatile with technological advances. The power seat or electric seat has come to the fore in the market, possessing height regulating motors, sliding motors, electronic control modules, heater, massager, memory among others. The power seat was first available onto some luxury cars and then equipped progressively to the medium and high-grade models whose sales boom in turn helped a rise in the installation rate of electric seats, which is naturally a boon for the burgeoning demand for automotive seat motors. In 2019, global shipments of power seat motor reached 157 million units, a figure projected to be approximately 147 million units in 2020 due to the still devastating COVID-19 worldwide, to hopefully recover as the pandemic eases and draw close to 217 million units in 2026.

The production and sales of upscale cars is on a steady rise annually in China, the largest producer and consumer of automobiles in the world, calling for more and more automotive seat motors whose shipments in the country in 2019 posted 30.9 million units and enjoyed a global share of more than 24.3%. The faster growing Chinese seat motor market than the global market arises from a transfer of the market demand to the medium- and high-end products and a spurt in sales growth of medium- and high-grade passenger cars, invigorating the seat motor sector measurably.

In the global market of automotive seat motors, Japanese players lead the pack and four out of the world’s top eight seat motor tycoons are from Japan (Denso, Nidec, Mitsuba, and Mabuchi), holding market shares 45% together. In addition, German-based Bosch, Brose and Chinese peers Johnson Electric and Shenghuabo Group are the competitive suppliers.

Boasting at least 300 branches and operations in over 40 countries, Nidec Corporation dedicates itself to the R&D, production and sale of precision small motors to ultra-large electric motors. Also is Nidec second to none in the vehicle motor field, sweeping roughly 16.5% shares in 2019 in the automotive seat motor market and ranking first. Nidec entered China in 1989 and is now in possession of 36 plants, 54 marketing companies and offices with a workforce of virtually 40,000 there. In June 2020, Nidec announced about JPY100 billion or RMB6.5 billion for building a factory (where a R&D base settles) in Dalian city, China, and the base is to produce the driving motors for both battery electric vehicle and home appliances.

As one of the largest suppliers of auto parts and systems in the world, Denso Corporation has 179 associated companies in more than 30 countries and regions. With its automotive motor business mainly from ASMO, Denso is aggressively seeking innovations in its state-of-the-art technologies and electromechanical products and had a business reshuffle with ASMO in 2017 (incorporating the latter’ motor business inclusive of automotive seat motor to Denso). In 2019, Denso held a global share of 13.1% or so in the automotive seat motor market. Denso (Tianjin) Motor Co., Ltd is the largest manufacturing base for automotive seat motors of Denso in China, with annual capacity outnumbering 3 million units.

Established in 1959, Johnson Electric is a large multi-national corporation from Hong Kong (China) and has a strong market leadership in the design, R&D and production of micro motors and integrated motor systems. With about 35,000 contract workers in 23 countries, Johnson Electric is a global leading provider delivering total seat driving solutions for front/rear seat, seat tilt, height regulation, seat reclining, headrest regulation, lumbar support and seat haptic feedback. It seized a global market share of 10.1% in 2019.

The "Global and China Automotive Seat Motor Industry Report, 2020-2026" highlights:

• Automotive seat motor (definition, classification, technical standards, etc.);
• Global automotive seat motor market (status quo, market size, competitive landscape, etc.);
• China automotive seat motor market (development environment, market size, competition pattern, tendencies, etc.);
• Downstream sectors including automobile and automotive seating (market size, competition pattern, etc.);
• Six foreign companies (Nidec, Denso, Mitsuba, Mabuchi, Bosch, Brose) and nine Chinese counterparts like Johnson Electric, Shenghuabo Group, Zhejiang Founder Motor and Ningbo Shuanglin Auto Parts (operation, automotive seat motor business, etc.)