Automotive Nonwoven Fabrics Market
Automotive Nonwoven Fabrics Market
Lighter cars. More fuel efficient vehicles. Quieter cabins. Cost efficiencies. These are just some of the requirements that auto manufacturers are seeking in order to please their customers. With auto production in the U.S. expected to climb in 2010, will the road ahead be smooth for nonwovens producers who play in the automotive market?
Nonwovens appear to be the perfect fit for the automotive industry—they offer flexibility, low weights, sound absorption, improved aesthetics, cost efficiencies and eco-friendliness. From interior and trunk carpets and underbody panels and headliners to wheel well liners to dash panels to package trays, nonwovens producers are finding innovative ways to keep the momentum going.
“There’s pent-up demand, but cars are being built with higher quality standards and they last longer. They are big-ticket items. When the U.S. has 10% unemployment, people are not buying cars. But for the next one to four years there will be an upward trend of car sales. Every year, more car interiors are changing from woven fabrics—from tufted carpets to needlepunched nonwovens—because of cost and weight factors and fuel economy, and that trend continues now,” said Dave Rowell, president of Foss Manufacturing.
