Though electronic stability control (ESC) has achieved near complete penetration in North America, Europe still lags behind, mainly due to the lack of legislation mandating the technology in the region, researcher Frost & Sullivan (F&S) said.
Despite the European New Car Assessment Programme (EuroNCAP) which includes tests to rate cars fitted with ESC from 2011, the technology has witnessed only minimal growth over the last two years.
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It claculates the European ESC market is expected to reach a market value of close to EUR2 billion by 2020. Among the various original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), it is the upper tiers in the pyramid that attract maximum fitment rates, with the German Big Three claiming close to 100% fitment across the eight segments they cater to.
“The mass market segments, though, work differently,” said F&S industry analyst, Arunprasad Nandakumar. “Across Europe, different OEMs have established varied strategies for marketing ESC for their portfolios. While the optional fitment costs the consumer anywhere between EUR300 to EUR1200, the average optional fitment rate is approximately EUR540 across Europe.
“If the technology does become mandatory in 2014, it will pose a challenge to volume manufacturers. They will either have to bear the cost of the technology or pass it on to the end consumer.”
While mass market OEMs, such as Volkswagen and Toyota, follow a similar strategy by providing the technology as standard in 60-70% and optional in the rest of their models, a few others, such as Fiat and Hyundai, have decided not to offer the technology at all on 3% of their entire product range.
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By GlobalDataRegarding rate diversity, Nissan and Renault, despite their existing alliance, serve another interesting case in point. While Renault incorporates the technology on a standard base of at least 80% of its line-up, Nissan only reaches 60%. But Renault sells about 1.6 times the volume of Nissan in Europe, and the Japanese manufacturer may therefore be more sceptical to further increase the cost of its products, and thus counteract the effort to improve sales figures.
In addition, ESC fitment in Japan is still below that of Europe and North America, due to home market legislation and few Japanese suppliers.
Though parent GM offers the technology as standard across its range in North America, its Opel unit only reaches 58% of fitment rates in Europe. While the standard fitment rate for Asian OEMs stands at 54% in Europe, European mass OEMs competing in the same segment are at 49%.
On top of that, countries, such as Denmark, Sweden, and Germany, offer ESC fitment as standard in most models while countries like Greece, Malta, and Iceland fail to offer the technology even as optional in most of the available models. Dealers operating in more than one European country, fail to provide the technology equivalently. It is therefore not just the responsibility of a dealer to ensure favourable uptake of optional fitment; OEMs need to ensure availability across vehicle model line-up, F&S said.
“It is understandable that fitment rates are higher among premium OEMs in comparison to volume OEMs such as Fiat, Ford Europe, and others who are faced with packaging challenges to incorporate an ESC into their existing models,” Nandakumar concluded.
“But the anomalies in fitment rates among various models within similar price brackets is a concern that automobile manufacturers need to assess.”
The trend in fitment rates is expected to change as the technology is likely to become mandatory by September 2014.
