China TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) Industry Report, 2005-2006

In 2004, the demand for direct TPMS products was about 4 million units, the figure will reach 44 million units by 2009, with an compound average growth rate of 61.6%. The demand for indirect TPMS products will increase from 0.75 million units in 2004 to 1 million units in 2009, with an annual compound average growth rate of 5.9%.

TPMS system has gained wide recognition and application in developed countries, but it is just in the initial stage in China. In the national standard of the People's Republic of China -- Safety Specifications for Motor Vehicles Operating on Roads (an edition for soliciting comments) released on 24 November 2003, there are also descriptions regarding the installation of tire pressure monitoring systems: for coaches over 6-meter long and trucks over 1.2-tont, tire pressure monitoring systems should be installed.

China has not published any compulsory regulations regarding TPMS installation, and most trucks belong to freight companies who are not willing to bear the high expenses caused by TPMS installation for so many tires. Moreover, passenger car owners do not pay enough attention to TPMS, as cars' tires are not likely to encounter the same problems as trucks', and the road conditions in cities get better and better. Therefore, for the markets of both pre-installation and post-installation, TPMS is in dilemma.

However, in the long run, the government will soon or later promulgate the compulsory regulation of TPMS installation. Especially for large-sized trucks, the installation of TPMS is necessary. Therefore, the market has a bright future. At present, most manufacturers are still in the R&D period, and shipment stay low.

Throughout China, there are nearly 200 manufacturers dealing with TPMS R&D, and about 30 of them are professional TPMS manufacturers.

Manufacturers mainly focus on product quality and performance rather than market development. In fact, China's TPMS encounter many problems: a special host machine and display should be equipped in the car; the in-vehicle fixing and cable connection make installation rather complicated and affect the design; TMPS is unable to set standard tire pressure or guarantee appropriate tire usage; there are no interference-free alarms, the driver's line of sight thus can be easily distracted; because of low transmitting efficiency and poor error-correcting functions, missing alarms often occur in bad conditions; direct TPMS is not reliable enough in the transmission of wireless signals, and problems of short battery life and low sensor durability can occur.

Moreover, TPMS components mainly depend on importation and there is lack of independent intellectual property.

The current China TPMS market is mainly concentrated on after-installation market, but the high price, e.g. RMB 6000 or 7000 per unit (as of a car with 4 tires), has made the market remains small. Taking ChangAn Alto as an example, the total price for 4 tires is about RMB800, but the installation of TPMS will cost over RMB2900. Moreover, the tire technology and road conditions are getting better, which makes TPMS less useful than before and makes many drivers underestimate the necessity of TPMS.

However, we are optimistic towards the market, because there is a large space for TPMS price decreasing. When the price is close to RMB3000, the market will experience a great boom, and as the compulsory regulation of TPMS installation is likely to be published in 2006, all the large-sized trucks will be required to install TPMS by the year of 2010. Although the china market scale will remain small in the short term, Chinese electronic manufacturers are capable to develop in overseas market thanks to their strong cost control ability.