The evolution of auto lamps has spanned a long journey of more than 100 years, and light source technology has been an important driver of this process. Since the birth of auto lamps, the progress of light sources has been determined to advance towards the goal of low energy consumption and high brightness, so that the core qualities of safety and energy saving have become more and more prominent. Looking back, from the early fuel lamps, incandescent lamps, and halogen lamps, until today's leading-edge LED light source, each major innovation in light source technology has brought about sweeping changes in the automotive lighting industry. Nowadays, the economic added value created by vehicle lights is increasing, their service life is also being extended, and the response speed is as fast as flying.
As a key technology in the automotive field, the evolution of headlamps has almost gone hand in hand with the automotive industry's progress. In the early stages of automotive development, the familiar paraffin headlamps and acetylene headlamps and other open-flame headlamps served as the main form of headlamps. However, although these lighting devices were bright, the lighting effect was unsatisfactory. At the same time, they needed to carry a large amount of fuel along with the vehicle, which brought about many convenience problems. Into the 1970s, halogen lamps came into being, which with their excellent lighting effect and relatively low manufacturing costs and affordable price, quickly became the mainstream light source choice in the automotive lamp market. After that, with the continuous innovation and breakthroughs in light source technology, such as xenon lamps, LEDs and other new light sources with higher lighting effects and lower energy consumption have gradually been widely used in mid-range and high-end models, and began to gradually penetrate the market of mid-range and low-end models.
In the upstream link of the auto lamp industry chain, the core materials include plastics, glass, various types of metals (e.g. aluminum, steel, etc.) , and electronic components. The suppliers of these raw materials mainly come from the chemical industry, metal smelting field and electronic components manufacturing industry, etc., which provide a stable and high-quality supply of raw materials for auto lamp manufacturers. Lamp manufacturers are responsible for the precise integration and assembly of optical modules, controllers, plastic housings and other components to form a complete lamp product. In the process, they also need to go through rigorous performance testing and quality inspection procedures. The main service targets of auto lamp manufacturers are major automobile manufacturers, who provide auto lamp products that match their production models. Along with the global automobile production and sales continuing to rise, the demand for the car lights market also shows a steady rise.
At present, the competitive environment of China's auto lamps is very fierce, especially in recent years. Domestic automotive lamp manufacturers in addition to facing the challenge of foreign and Sino-foreign joint ventures, also have to withstand the pressure of competition from the same Chinese local private independent brand enterprises. China's domestic automotive lamp manufacturers show the pattern of market oligopoly, a number of strong enterprises go hand in hand.
In the current era, due to the automation of automobiles in the downstream field of automotive lamps and the increasingly obvious trend of electric vehicles, the pattern of China's automotive industry is quietly undergoing changes and adjustments. Looking ahead, with the rapid popularity of new energy vehicles and intelligent vehicles around the world and a new market pattern, China's automotive lamp industry will undoubtedly get huge benefits from it. For example, the widespread adoption of intelligent vehicles will promote the application of digital technology in automotive lamps, which will further enhance the added value of automotive lamps. In addition, consumers' continuous pursuit of intelligent experience will also drive the entire industry towards smart headlights. This growth in demand for intelligence and digitalization will force major enterprises to increase their R&D efforts, and will also lead to a gradual increase in the competitive threshold in terms of industry technology, customer resources and product quality.
Auto light products play a crucial role in ensuring driving safety, so the vehicle light industry has rigorous requirements for product quality. The major host manufacturers on the lamp quality and appearance of the review is even more demanding, therefore, the key elements to determine the competitive strength of the lamp manufacturers include design and development, manufacturing and quality control and other areas of professional skills and comprehensive strength. The lamp design and manufacturing process needs to be flexible to use a variety of disciplines covering the technical means, the test manufacturers in materials science, optical principles, electronic technology, mechanical engineering and other areas of expertise and mature technology accumulation and application. With the increasing popularity of intelligent lighting technology, the degree of automotive electronics rising year by year, automotive circuit design and manufacturing, software programming and algorithmic processing capabilities will gradually come to the forefront, becoming China's automotive lamp manufacturers to enhance their core competitiveness of the key source.
Looking ahead, the technological threshold of this industry is bound to increase significantly. As the level of science and technology continues to rise, automotive lamp products will also get a qualitative leap, increasingly diversified functionality, and gradually the transformation of the digital vision system. At the same time, China's automotive lamp industry in technological innovation, quality assurance and related certification system barriers will be more and more solid, which will undoubtedly promote the intensification of market competition in this area, thus promoting the acceleration of integration between enterprises, industry concentration will also rise. It is worth looking forward to, the proportion of independent brands in the industry is expected to continue to grow.
Post time: Jan-14-2025