Guotai Junan Securities: Automotive glass products continue to upgrade, possessing significant growth potential

According to the Zhitong Finance APP, Guosen Securities released a research report stating that after the popularization of panoramic glass, heat insulation, dimming, and display-grade panoramic glass are expected to successively develop into the next generation of explosive products, addressing pain points related to sun protection, privacy, and interaction. Automotive glass is expected to become a massive data output carrier for in-car ecological applications (carrying information beyond the central control screen) with significant growth potential (the value per vehicle ranging from 700-1500-3000 yuan or more). The firm expects the global automotive glass market to reach 115 billion yuan by 2026. They recommend the leading global player, FUYAO GLASS (600660.SH), which is compatible with various solutions, has a complete technology reserve, and continues to increase its market share; they also suggest paying attention to HIUV (688680.SH), MOBITECH (301173.SZ), and Keli Equipment (301552.SZ) in the industry chain.

Guosen Securities' main points are as follows:

Rapid penetration of automotive glass panoramic roofs, with future upgrades focusing on solving the three major pain points of heat insulation, privacy, and interaction

Compared to traditional sunroofs and steel roofs, panoramic glass excels in aesthetics and space, with its penetration rate rapidly increasing in recent years (18% in 2024). After the popularization of panoramic roofs, heat insulation, dimming, and display-grade panoramic glass are expected to successively develop into the next generation of explosive products addressing sun protection, privacy, and interaction pain points.

Heat insulation panoramic roofs solve the sun protection pain point, upgrading the fastest, currently in the 1-N stage

To address the pain point of sun exposure, car manufacturers offer two solutions: physical sunshades and chemical coatings. Sunshades sacrifice the transparency of the panoramic roof and are lower in cost, currently the preferred solution for low-priced models; chemical coatings, primarily using silver ion LOW-E films, are mainstream, priced around 1500 yuan, effectively blocking over 98% of ultraviolet rays and some infrared heat. Products have reached models like the BYD Seal 06 at the 100,000 yuan level, working through magnetron vacuum sputtering technology to coat metals and compounds onto float glass, with core processes such as solution ratio, decomposition of metal materials into nanoscale particles, sputtering, and overall glass assembly controlled by Tier 1 suppliers like FUYAO.

Dimming panoramic roofs solve the privacy pain point, with various technical solutions gradually being adopted, currently in the 0-1 stage

Dimming panoramic roofs incorporate electrically controlled dimming films to achieve dimming, heat insulation, and privacy protection. The current mainstream dimming films include PDLC, EC, and LC types, all of which are composite color-changing organic materials within conductive films. Among them, PDLC reduces light scattering through voltage-driven liquid crystal alignment, offering rapid response, early mass production, and the lowest cost. Previous products had issues with only white and gray colors, while HIUV in China proposed a self-developed dye PDCLC approach to add black configurations; EC dimming involves voltage-driven reversible redox reactions, allowing the glass to be continuously adjustable from bright to dark states, providing optimal dimming effects with limited additional vehicle energy consumption and relatively controllable costs. The two are expected to be the mainstream dimming routes. The cost differences among different technical solutions are significant, with prices ranging from 3000 to 10,000 yuan. Currently, there are only about 20 models on the market, and the penetration rate of dimming solutions in panoramic roofs is less than 5%. With the introduction of high-cost-performance solutions like PDCLC and the large-scale cost reduction of EC dimming films, domestic dimming panoramic roofs have already been integrated into the standard configuration of the 200,000 yuan IM Motors L6 model, with the market scale expected to reach 14 billion yuan by 2030, and PDCLC and EC solutions are anticipated to accelerate in volume The display-level skylight drives interactive applications, which have not yet entered large-scale production, but have huge long-term development potential

Against the backdrop of automotive intelligence, the area of in-car screens as a vehicle-interaction medium continues to expand, while automotive glass accounts for about one-third of the vehicle's surface area. Its material is friendly to light, electricity, and imaging, making it likely to take on roles such as central control displays and become the next interactive medium (for example, HUD applications transfer instrument displays to the front windshield). Fuyao Innovation proposes personalized applications such as transparent mini-LED ambient light glass and Micro LED integrated or projected display glass, continuously evolving skylight products.

Risk Warning: 1. New product price reductions are not as expected; 2. New product technology iterations are not as expected