Global Automotive Steel Wheels Market Research Report 2023-Competitive Analysis, Status and Outlook by Type, Downstream Industry, and Geography, Forecast to 2029

Global Automotive Steel Wheels Market Research Report 2023-Competitive Analysis, Status and Outlook by Type, Downstream Industry, and Geography, Forecast to 2029

Automotive Steel wheels are made with an alloy of iron and carbon. They are heavier but they’re more durable and can be easier to repair and refinish. Because of the way they’re made — cut out on a press and welded together — they don’t offer all the aesthetic spoke choices of other wheel types. Though their heavier weight may dampen acceleration, agility and fuel efficiency, steel wheels can offer more resistance to impact cracks.

Market Overview:

The latest research study on the global Automotive Steel Wheels market finds that the global Automotive Steel Wheels market reached a value of USD 4670.2 million in 2022. It’s expected that the market will achieve USD 6352.0 million by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 5.26% during the forecast period.

Influence of COVID-19 Outbreak on Automotive Steel Wheels Industry Development

Table Influence of COVID-19 Outbreak on Automotive Steel Wheels Industry Development
The rapid outbreak of COVID-19 has plunged the entire automotive supply chain into unexpected challenges. These main problems include OEMs shutdowns, reduced production, lack of adequate labor, and shortage of raw materials plus the fluctuating raw material prices.
According to relevant data released by the Alliance for Automotive Innovation as of March 26, 93% of all US car production was offline. These include Ford, General Motors, and Fiat Chrysler Motors, as well as other foreign automakers with operations at Honda, Toyota, and Volkswagen. For companies in the hardest-hit areas (such as Italy, France, and Spain), COVID-19 caused the business disruption, shutdown of car factories, and reduced demand in the automotive wheel market (steel wheel market accordingly).
In addition, COVID-19 leads to a sharp decline in Vehicle sales, as people have restricted their behavior. The expected lower demand may cause some automakers to need to adjust production throughout the year. Though some places are restarting their factories, such as some U.S. plants are slowly reopening after a nine-week shutdown amid the coronavirus outbreak, the impacts of COVID-19 on the automotive industry and the automotive wheel industry are still expected to last longer.
In Europe, updated data that European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA) released earlier this month clearly demonstrates the sheer scale of the auto industry’s manufacturing footprint, that 298 automobile assembly and engine production plants operate in Europe, 196 of which are situated within the European Union. However, production at these factories has been severely impacted by the COVID-19 crisis since mid-March, with plants being closed for 30 working days on average to date. And although many of these factories have re-started production to some extent by now, they are all still operating well below pre-lockdown capacity. Last month alone, registrations of new passenger cars in the European Union posted a year-on-year decline of 76.3%. The fact that most of Europe was under lockdown for the entire month, resulted in the sharpest drop in car demand since records began.
For steel wheel manufacturers, as they face unique supply chain challenges across various regions and market segments, the supply chain needs to be highly responsive to local demand, and maintain a balance of agility and cost at the same time, particularly amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Lightweight materials and design being increasingly embraced due to the Global trends toward CO2 reduction

Global trends towards more energy-efficient vehicles driven by the strict legislation regarding the reduction of carbon dioxide emissions are requiring lighter cars. These are putting pressure on the automakers. One of the ways to achieve the higher energy-efficiency and meet the legislative requirements maybe replace conventionally used materials such as aluminum wheels, with no compromise in the materials' performance. Therefore, steel wheel manufacturers may share less market share as a whole.

High capital requirements for manufacturers

Initial investments in the automotive wheel industry are quite expensive. The machinery and equipment used for processing are also quite expensive. On the one hand, downstream customers are mainly distributed in the automotive industry, with a high degree of marketization and fierce competition in the industry. It has higher requirements on the timeliness of product supply, the stability of production scale and product quality.
This has led to high capital requirements for car wheel manufacturers in the process of purchasing and building factories, purchasing production and testing equipment, and maintaining the necessary raw material and finished product inventory. On the other hand, the global automotive industry has a high degree of industrial concentration. Original equipment manufacturers and front-line component manufacturers at home and abroad usually have certain bargaining advantages. Their credit periods are relatively long, which has brought considerable liquidity pressure to upstream companies.

Promote the application of steel wheels on alloy-wheel-equipped vehicles (in wintertime particularly)

Besides the conventional applications of steel wheels on vehicles, steel wheel manufacturers could try to promote their products on other non-steel-wheel vehicles.
Steel wheels are very durable and it can help preserve the expensive alloy wheels during the wintertime. Winter roads being spread with sand and salt can damage the finish on an aluminum wheel, and even a slow speed skid into a curb on an icy street can result in a bent alloy rim. Steel wheels could be applied as a winter replacement of alloy wheels, and by doing so, high alloy wheel repair or replacement costs could be avoided.

Region Overview:

China is projected to account for a considerable share of the Automotive Steel Wheels market and is expected to become the largest region by 2028.

Company Overview:

Iochpe-Maxion is one of the major players operating in the Automotive Steel Wheels market, holding a share of 16.72% in 2023.

Iochpe-Maxion

Iochpe-Maxion is a world leader in the production of automotive wheels and a leading producer of automotive structural components in the Americas. The Company operates its business through two divisions: Maxion Wheels and Maxion Structural Components.

Accuride Corporation

Accuride Corporation is a leading supplier of wheel end systems to the global commercial vehicle industry. The company’s products include steel and aluminum commercial vehicle wheels and wheel-end components and assemblies; and steel wheels for the European automotive and global agricultural, construction and industrial equipment markets. The company’s products are marketed under its brand names, which include Accuride®, Accuride Wheel End Solutions™, Gunite®, and KIC®. Accuride is a portfolio company of Crestview Partners.

Application Overview:

By application, the Passenger Vehicles segment occupied the biggest share from 2018 to 2022.

Key Companies in the global Automotive Steel Wheels market covered in Chapter 3:

Accuride Corporation
Jingu Group
Steel Strips Wheels Limited
Iochpe-Maxion
Sunrise Wheel Group
Topy Industries
Central Motor Wheel Co. Ltd.
ZHENGXING WHEEL GROUP CO., LTD.
CLN Group
Xingmin Intelligent Transportation Systems
ALCAR HOLDING GMBH

In Chapter 4 and Chapter 14.2, on the basis of types, the Automotive Steel Wheels market from 2018 to 2029 is primarily split into:

Cast Iron
Alloy Steel
Others

In Chapter 5 and Chapter 14.3, on the basis of Downstream Industry, the Automotive Steel Wheels market from 2018 to 2029 covers:

Passenger Vehicles
Commercial Vehicles

Geographically, the detailed analysis of consumption, revenue, market share and growth rate, historic and forecast (2018-2029) of the following regions are covered in Chapter 8 to Chapter 14:

North America (United States, Canada)
Europe (Germany, UK, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Netherlands, Turkey, Switzerland, Sweden)
Asia Pacific (China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, India, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia)
Latin America (Brazil, Mexico, Argentina)
Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, South Africa)