Market Overview

In-vehicle front panels and covers protect displays and screens equipped within vehicles.  In addition to increasing number of displays and screens installed per vehicle, i.e., not only conventional car navigation systems but also CIDs (Center Information Displays), RSE (Rear Seat Entertainment), and instrument clusters, more electrostatic capacitive touchscreens have come to be adopted as a UI for operating display devices, which expanded the global shipment volume of in-vehicle front panels and covers in 2017 to 27,550 thousand, 145.5% of that of the previous year.  Since in-vehicle front panels and covers are projected to increase in conjunction with the in-vehicle display market which is on the rise, the markets of each of those panels and covers made respectively from glass and resin, and of those made via injection molding are all likely to continue growing in 2018 and beyond.

Noteworthy Topics

As the surface of in-vehicle displays and touchscreens has become curved or variant, the front panels and covers are also required to be curved as well, in order to respond to the requests by automakers to improve the designs of such panels and covers.  Therefore, the attempts to make the curved surface of front panels and covers made from glass or resin, or those made via injection molding have been in progress earnestly.  Because in-vehicle displays have become adopted extensively in various components such as CIDs including those with a car navigation function, DA (display audio), RSE, clusters, HUDs (head up displays), rear-view mirrors, and etc., the market of such displays is on the rise. In conjunction of such a tendency, the demand of major components i.e. front panels and display covers, various types of optical films for in-vehicle displays, OCA and OCR, and in-vehicle touchscreens has been increasing, causing the competition among various makers of such components and materials to become fiercer and fiercer.

In recent years, attempts have been made at each automaker to secure the safety of both the passengers of the vehicle and the pedestrians.  As a part of such attempts, in-vehicle displays have become larger for the passengers to understand the messages and information easily at a glance, which can lead to prevent malfunction of the systems, or to assist parking, and etc.  In addition, in-vehicle displays are required by automakers to improve visibility to make higher resolution and wider color gamut to the level similar to smartphones and other consumer appliances.  Also, more requests have been made to improve and integrate the designs of interior and cockpits in order for the passengers to feel comfortable and relaxed during the journey.

Therefore, in-vehicle display component makers are considered to be required to plan and develop their products that appropriately commit what the clients require, which is not only to make larger displays, higher resolution, wider color gamut, and improved designs, but also to pursue the core essence of automobiles, i.e., to secure safety and provide interior comfort.

Research Outline