According to a new market report released by Persistence Market Research, the global automotive coatings market is being driven by the rising vehicle population, which results from the increasing per capita income. The per capita passenger car ownership has been rising around the globe, and passenger cars are becoming one of the common modes of personal conveyance. Vehicle manufacturers are now concentrating more on improving the appearance of vehicles to maintain their competitive advantages in the market. This has been benefitting the automotive coatings market. More than 80% of the materials used in passenger cars are metallic. Most of these metals are coated to protect them against rust and degradation. The emergence of ultraviolet curing coating is giving good growth opportunities to the global automotive coatings market. The global automotive coatings market can be broadly segmented into two categories by application: original equipment manufacturing and aftermarket or refinish. The major end-users of the automotive refinish market are collision repair centers and automotive body shops. This market can be also segmented into four categories by product segment: electro-coats, primer coats, base coats, and clear-coats. On the basis of formulation, this market can be divided into four categories: water-based, solvent-based, powder-based, and UV-based coatings. Brazil, Russia, India, and China are anticipated to be the major countries driving the growth of the automotive industry, and the key drivers include improving economies, advancements in the road infrastructure, and increasing inclination of individuals towards personal conveyance. However, rising raw material prices are becoming a major challenge for the automotive coatings market as the profit margins of the coatings manufacturers are decreasing. In 2013, North America was the third-largest vehicle manufacturer in the world, following Asia Pacific and Europe, and it is becoming the second-largest vehicle manufacturer by 2020. The automotive coatings market in Europe has suffered because of the Euro zone crisis that impacted the automotive industry heavily. The market for eco-friendly coatings, such as waterborne and powder coating, are growing at a high rate due to the increasing government and public awareness related to the environmental hazards posed by solvent-borne coatings. A few environmental agencies and governmental institutions have formulated regulations and issued guidelines to minimize the use of high volatile organic compound automotive coatings. Owing to the large fleet of vehicles in the countries, China and India are dominating the Asia Pacific automotive coatings market.