Bigger fleet stimulates repaint business
Valor Econômico
The optimistic perspectives for the sales of the Brazilian car industry, the growing demand for premium paints in the workshops and the increasingly greater call for consumers to use "green technology" products are increasing the bets of the three biggest companies of the car refinish segment in the national market. PPG, Basf and DuPont, which lead this sector worldwide and in Brazil have nearly 30% of the businesses each, are already preparing their strategies to increase their presence in the Brazilian territory. In common, the three multinationals make use of new technologies and the motto of sustainability to gain positions in a niche that is currently estimated at US$ 150 million a year.
One of the leading international manufacturers of paints, PPG operates in the car refinishing segment through PPG Refinish, which generates nearly 20% of the earnings of the company in the country - in 2009, the global sales of PPG Industries exceeded US$ 12 billion. For 2010, the expectation is a 5% growth in the earnings from the Brazilian refinishing market, compared to the stable 2009 performance due to the impact of the economic crisis, especially in the first months of the year. "Brazil is a market of high interest to PPG. The accelerated growth opportunities are in the emerging countries", says the Director of the refinishing business unit in South America, Maurício Gustavo Palumbo. "We have seen strong growth in the country in recent years, which ends up reflecting in the level of investments made around here", he adds, recalling that PPG has purchased the right to use the Tintas Renner brand, used in the decorative paint segment, for 40 years, in view of the positive perspective for the Brazilian market.
At Basf, they estimate a two-digit growth in the sales of the area in the country, thus exceeding the expansion planned for the market. "In the following years, we intend to resume the leadership in Brazil as we did in Argentina", says the Director of refinishing businesses of BASF in South America, Francisco Verza. According to the Officer, besides the immediate reflex in car sales, the improvement of the economic setting also produces a positive psychological effect on owners of vehicles that were deferring some repair because of the uncertainties generated by the crisis.
DuPont, on its turn, sees possibility of growth between 5% and 7% for the market, especially in the medium- and large-sized repair shops. According to the person in charge of the refinishing area for DuPont in Brazil, Marcelo Herrera, the increase of the fleet of vehicles in the country has pulled the performance of the business and increased the bets of the group in the Brazilian market. "We are increasing our efforts to train customers and investing in the launching of new technologies", he says. Last year, DuPont reopened its Automotive Refinishing Center (ARC) of Guarulhos (SP), with capacity to train up to 60 technicians a month, and it plans other openings for the next two years - in 2011, the Northeast should receive a center of that kind.