Laws surrounding the recycling of vehicle parts are tougher in the EU than anywhere else in the world and further legislation to protect the environment is a given in the coming years. All power to the remanufacturing industry as Ivor Searle contends.
With sustainability a major benefit, the automotive parts remanufacturing market is gaining traction across Europe, whilst the manufacture of new parts seems to have peaked, owing to volatile prices of raw materials, a slowing down in new car retail and rising costs of insurance risk, that reduce the threshold for uneconomical repair.
According to US firm, Persistence Market Research, the automotive parts remanufacturing market in Europe is valued at around €10 billion and expected to reach €20 billion by the end of 2024. According to its report, Automotive Parts Remanufacturing Market: Europe Industry Analysis and Forecast 2016-2024, Persistence Market Research projects that Europe’s vehicle parts remanufacturing market will grow by more than 6% annually for the next five years. In 2016, close to 35 million remanufactured automotive parts, including UK reman engines, were sold across Europe and by the end of 2024, the report predicts this number will surpass 56 million.
The emergence of more sophisticated components for controlling vehicle emissions performance as well as significant growth in the take up of Alternate Fuel Vehicles (AEVs), such as hybrid and electric cars are considered to be key driver for the remanufacturing market’s growth, particularly in regard to diesel reman engines for both cars and vans, the latter of which is the workhorse of the pan-European parcel delivery fleet.
In addition to strong demand for remanufactured engines and reman gearboxes across Europe, the remanufacture of turbochargers, clutches, brake calipers, and even steering wheels is expected to deliver positive growth in the order of 8% per annum over the forecast period, the report suggests.
Of Europe’s total automotive parts remanufacturing market, more than 40% relates to cars and at the end of 2024, more than 23 million passenger car parts will be remanufactured across Europe, primarily by the four leading remanufacturing countries, namely the UK, Germany, France and Italy. As the bloc’s leading nation in manufacturing, Germany will continue to dominate the reman market with over one-third revenue share throughout the forecast period. The report further reveals that the demand for automotive parts remanufacturing will incur impressive growth in the UK.
Demand for remanufactured parts within the off-highway vehicle sector is also expected to rise. An article in The Engineer magazine highlights that a long-time leader in the field of remanufacturing has been Caterpillar Inc, the world’s biggest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment and diesel engines. Since 1973 CAT has developed a sophisticated reman business model of salvaging materials, remaking parts and offering them with the same warranty as new parts. It is currently recovering 2.2 million products, or 63,000 tonnes, through its Reman programme for remanufacturing parts. Truck manufacturer, Isuzu, has also recently announced a truck engine reman programme to assist businesses and owner-drivers with Isuzu engine replacements.
It’s not just commercial and heavy plant vehicles that are embracing remanufacturing, though. A number of car OEMs, including Jaguar Land Rover and Renault, have been investigating the potential for reuse and reman.
“The circular economy covers a complex and wide range of initiatives ensuring we work to make the best use of the valuable resources that go into our vehicles. This includes technological innovation such as recycling, remanufacturing, autonomous vehicles and ownership models that consider the future mobility needs of our customers,” suggested Adrian Tautscher, Sustainable Aluminium Strategies, Jaguar Land Rover.
Renault generates around half a billion euros annually from the circular economy of recycling and remanufacturing and is investigating the expansion of its European reman model into other regions of the world, including India, Brazil, Morocco and China.
With benefits to the consumer, manufacturers and the wider world, it looks like remanufacturing will continue to exert an increasing influence on the automotive industry, as David Eszenyi, Commercial Director of Ivor Searle, explains:
“Now that all EU manufactured cars have to be 95% recyclable, it’s clear that the automotive sector has become something of a trailblazer for sustainability.
Remanufacturing is a fundamental part of a Circular Economy, as it’s a cost -effective alternative to manufacturing brand new products and at the same time saving on raw materials and energy. A remanufactured engine from Ivor Searle will save 55kg in core metal whilst using 85 per cent less energy than manufacturing. Not only that, on average, 85% of an engine’s original components will be brought back to OE specification during our stringent reman process. It’s a win-win all round.”
Filed under: Ivor Searle turbos, reman engines, reman turbo, remanufactured, remanufactured gearboxes