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, mostly for prototyping and tooling applications.
The automotive industry 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. Therefore, 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 the key restraining factors, limiting the market growth to a considerable extent.
Different technologies such as stereolithography, fused deposition modeling, selective laser sintering, laminated object manufacturing and electron beam melting are used in automotive sector for 3D printing.
North America 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.
