Global Automotive Plain Carbon Steel ERW Tube Market 2025

The automotive plain carbon steel ERW tube market is a mature, large, but highly competitive market. In 2025, the total global market size for automotive plain carbon steel ERW tubes is expected to remain stable, but internal competition will intensify, with significant structural changes. This is a critical period where opportunities and challenges coexist.

Product Definition: Automotive plain carbon steel ERW tubes mainly refer to seamless welded tubes manufactured using ordinary carbon steel of grades Q235B (ASTM A53), S235JR, ASTM A36, or similar, through high-frequency electric resistance welding. They are primarily used in non-critical structural components and general-purpose pipe fittings in automobiles.

Market Positioning: Automotive plain carbon steel ERW tubes belong to the low-to-mid-end, cost-sensitive automotive pipe market. Their core competitiveness lies in their extremely high cost-effectiveness; while meeting performance requirements, their cost is significantly lower than seamless steel pipes and high-strength alloy steel pipes.

2025 Global Automotive Standard Carbon Steel ERW Pipe Market Analysis:

1. Increased Regional Market Differentiation

a. China Market: Shifting from "Incremental Competition" to "Stock Competition". With the continued increase in the penetration rate of new energy vehicles, the demand for pipes for traditional fuel vehicles is experiencing weak growth or even slight contraction. Market growth mainly comes from the recovery of commercial vehicles (especially logistics vehicles) and the demand for spare parts in the automotive aftermarket. Competition will be exceptionally fierce.

b. India and Southeast Asia Markets: Becoming New Engines of Global Growth. These regions are in a period of rapid economic development with low car ownership rates, indicating significant future growth potential. Their focus on economy models will provide a broad market for standard carbon steel ERW pipes.

c. Mature European and American Markets: Demand is Stable with a Slight Decline. Deeply affected by the transformation to new energy vehicles and the "aluminum-for-steel" lightweight strategy, the market share of standard carbon steel ERW pipes in traditional application areas (such as exhaust systems) will continue to be eroded. The market mainly depends on the iteration of existing models and the aftermarket repair market.

2. Structural Impacts of New Energy Vehicles

a. Reduced Demand
Driveshaft: Pure electric vehicles no longer require the traditional long driveshaft, posing a significant challenge to conventional carbon steel ERW pipes.
Exhaust System: Pure electric vehicles completely eliminate the need for exhaust systems, leading to their gradual disappearance from the market.

b. New Demand
Battery Pack Structural Components: The internal support beams, frames, and anti-collision structures of the battery pack require a large number of high-precision, high-strength structural pipes. While some will use high-strength steel or aluminum, cost-sensitive models will still consider conventional carbon steel ERW pipes.

Chassis Structure: To support the heavy battery pack, the chassis needs reinforcement, potentially creating new demand for structural pipes.
Other General Components: Demand for components such as seat frames and bumper anti-collision beams remains unchanged.

3. Technological Upgrades Become Key to Survival

Evolution from "Conventional Carbon Steel" to "High Strength Carbon Steel": To cope with the pressure of lightweighting, the market demand for high-strength carbon manganese steel ERW pipes will exceed that for conventional carbon steel. Companies must be able to produce products with higher strength levels.

Precision and quality are the entry ticket: Higher requirements will be placed on the dimensional accuracy, straightness, and surface quality of products to meet the assembly requirements of automated production lines and precision components such as battery packs.

Process innovation: Online heat treatment (weld normalizing) and 100% automated non-destructive testing (ultrasonic/eddy current) will become standard requirements for high-end customers.

4. Supply chain model transformation

From "selling products" to "providing solutions": Leading pipe suppliers will no longer just provide fixed-length pipes, but will provide deeply processed products, such as pre-cut, pre-bent pipes, and even welded sub-components, saving customers costs and processes.

Deep integration with component suppliers: To enter the new energy vehicle supply chain, ERW pipe companies need to collaborate with battery pack manufacturers and next-generation chassis manufacturers in design and development earlier.

5. Green and environmentally friendly

Environmental requirements will drive greater emphasis on energy conservation and emission reduction in the production process and promote the application of environmentally friendly surface treatment technologies such as water-based galvanizing.

Supply and Demand Analysis of Ordinary Carbon Steel ERW Pipes for Automobiles:

Supply Side:

1. Major Producers

Specialized Welded Pipe Plants: Numerous in number, they are the main force in market supply. This includes welded pipe plants under large steel groups (such as those under Baosteel and Ansteel), as well as many independent private welded pipe companies (such as Tianjin Youfa and Hunan Standard Steel), leading to fierce market competition.

Automotive Parts Suppliers: Some large parts suppliers build their own welded pipe production lines for internal supply to reduce costs and control quality.

2. Production Process and Quality

Mature technology, highly automated production lines, and sufficient capacity, even with the risk of overcapacity.

Product quality varies. Leading companies can achieve weld heat treatment and online non-destructive testing, ensuring weld quality close to the base material. However, smaller companies may have inconsistent product quality.

Demand Side:

Main Application Areas - Where are they used in automobiles?

1. Transmission system: Drive shaft tubing is the largest and most typical requirement. Ordinary carbon steel ERW tubing is widely used in drive shafts of commercial vehicles and mid-to-low-end passenger cars due to its good strength, torsional performance, and straightness.
2. Exhaust systems: Used in muffler tailpipes, intermediate pipes, and other parts where corrosion resistance and heat resistance requirements are not high. Aluminized steel or subsequent aluminum spraying treatment is usually required.
3. Chassis and body: Used as bumper anti-collision beams, seat frames, seat belt retractor shafts, various support pipes, and structural pipes.
4. Hydraulic systems: Used in hydraulic cylinder barrels of trucks and dump trucks, requiring high requirements for the smoothness, roundness, and straightness of the inner and outer surfaces of the pipes.

Core customers:
Tier 1/Tier 2 automotive parts suppliers: Such as drive shaft manufacturers, exhaust system manufacturers, seat manufacturers, hydraulic cylinder manufacturers, etc. They are direct customers of welded pipe companies.
Automotive OEMs: OEMs set technical standards and certify suppliers, but their procurement is usually completed through the aforementioned component suppliers.

2025 Market Drivers and Constraints:

1. Drivers
Emerging Market Car Ownership: Economic growth in regions such as India, Southeast Asia, and Latin America drives first-time car purchase demand.
Cyclical Recovery of the Commercial Vehicle Market: Global logistics and infrastructure construction support demand for upstream pipe materials for commercial vehicles.
Cost Pressure: Against the backdrop of economic uncertainty, OEMs are more sensitive to costs, providing opportunities for cost-effective ERW pipes (especially those replacing some seamless pipes).
Stable Aftermarket Demand: The vast global car fleet ensures stable demand in the repair and replacement market.

2. Challenges and Risks
Raw Material Price Fluctuations: Fluctuations in steel prices remain a major uncertainty affecting corporate profitability.
Overcapacity and Price Wars: Especially in the Chinese market, where market demand growth is slowing, overcapacity in low-end products may lead to vicious price wars, squeezing profit margins.
Threat of Technological Substitution: The continued expansion of the application of aluminum alloys, engineering plastics, and composite materials in lightweighting is constantly encroaching on the territory of traditional steel pipes.
Trade Policy and Environmental Regulations: Rising global trade protectionism and increasingly stringent environmental regulations (such as carbon footprint requirements) may increase costs and trade barriers.

Strategic Recommendations for Market Participants:

For Leading Companies:
1. Product Upgrade: Accelerate the transformation towards high-strength, high-precision, and deeply processed products.
2. Globalization: Actively explore emerging markets such as India and Southeast Asia, establishing overseas production bases or sales networks.
3. Pre-development: Proactively collaborate with new energy vehicle OEMs and component suppliers, participating in early-stage design and developing tubular components suitable for new vehicle models.

For small and medium-sized enterprises:
1. Market Focus: Deepen market penetration, such as focusing on the aftermarket, special-purpose vehicle sector, or a specific processing technology (such as precision pipe bending), establishing unique advantages.
2. Cost Minimization: Through refined management and technological transformation, become a cost leader while ensuring basic quality.
3. Seeking Cooperation: Form complementary partnerships with large enterprises and integrate into their supply chain systems.

Conclusion:

By 2025, the global market for ordinary carbon steel ERW tubing for automobiles will be a market characterized by "stable overall volume but significant structural changes." Companies relying solely on traditional products and price advantages will face immense pressure.

The core competitiveness of the future will no longer depend on simple price wars, but rather on:

1) Technological Capabilities: Innovative companies that achieve product upgrades and differentiation, capable of producing higher-strength, more precise tubing.
2) Market Agility: Keeping abreast of technological trends, able to quickly shift from the declining traditional fuel vehicle sector to the growing new energy and emerging market sectors.
3) Service Depth: The ability to upgrade from a material supplier to a solutions provider. Deeply integrated into the automotive supply chain, providing comprehensive services through technology.
4) Quality Stability: Large-scale enterprises that strictly control costs and quality.

For new entrants, the barriers to entry are high; for existing companies, only through technological and managerial upgrades can they remain competitive in this red ocean market.

Read more: Carbon Steel Pipe Material and Classification or Seamless Steel Pipes in Automotive Industry