The Strategy Analytics study “European Automotive Vendor Profiles” documents the impact of the crisis for the European market participants in a five-year growth ranking. Chip vendors Melexis and Infineon were hit the hardest – their sales of automotive-related products declined significantly - despite the recovery during the second half of 2009 and the first half of 2010. Also other players including LED and lighting vendor Osram and market giant Bosch had to accept declines. STMicroelectronics also suffered, but at a much lesser extent.

Both transmission system vendor ZF and Melexis have been affected by the recession because they lead in commodity-driven automotive components, namely sensors and microcontrollers (Melexis) as well as drivetrains, suspension and transmission systems (ZF), the study states. The reason why sales for these companies declined was that demand for their products is mainly linked to car production volumes. Also the scrappage incentives in the European market had shifted auto purchasing patterns to the compact segments, thus lowering the proportion of demand for electronic systems.

On the winning side, Continental, Hella and Magneti Marelli benefited from the shift towards more efficient engines and thus the related electronic control units. While also other companies such as Bosch are active in this segment, the three companies mentioned managed to increase the proportion of their production designed to meet this demand.

European Tier I Companies Ranked by 5-year Total Revenue Growth Rates

Surprisingly, the study identifies Brose Fahrzeugteile GmbH as the fastest growing company within this segment. The Coburg, Germany, based vendor of a broad spectrum of automotive-related parts and subsystems however did not so much benefit from the demand for “green” technologies but through acquisitions and by serving the other megatrend in the automotive industry: the growing demand for comfort and convenience systems in the emerging markets.