Banner remains loyal to lead-acid

Banner remains loyal to lead-acid

With sales of 270 million euros, 4.1 million starter batteries sold and an additional location in Thalheim near Wels, the company is realigning itself for the future with the 2030 Agenda. The Banner Group was able to hold its own in a difficult economic environment with a remarkable increase in sales and turnover. The company also received a major order in North America at the end of 2020. “The order with a total volume of around 60 million euros did not come from an OEM but from the independent aftermarket,” reveals Franz Märzinger, sales and marketing manager at Banner. Over the next few years, Banner will deliver a total of around 1.5 million lead-acid batteries to the United States and Canada. "This major order makes a significant contribution to securing jobs in Austria. The new sales region of North America leads to even better risk diversification," says Andreas Bawart, Commercial Director of Banner.

Main business starter batteries

The extensive changes in the automotive industry are also causing Banner to reorient themselves, but starter batteries will remain the core business in the future. The two major business areas consist of starter battery original equipment on the one hand and the starter battery aftermarket on the other. It can currently be assumed that the original equipment business will decline in the next few years, but that the aftermarket business will grow very strongly. Based on a market assessment, Banner is pursuing three main sales strategies: Firstly, it will focus heavily on AGM batteries and EFB batteries as well as truck batteries, all of which are high-quality batteries. Secondly, a further focus will be on the replacement business, as significant growth can be seen there. And thirdly, Banner wants to further expand geographically and also increasingly target markets outside of Europe. These sales strategies are expected to increase sales over the next ten years. The family business, with an export share of more than 95 percent, currently supplies Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche and Volvo with the innovative AGM technology. Start-stop batteries already account for more than 30 percent of production volume.

Don't be afraid of e-mobility

“The reduction of the internal combustion engine is clearly an aspect that the Banner Group has to deal with now and in the future,” says Franz Märzinger, Head of Sales and Marketing at Banner. He sees a clear development towards e-mobility among automobile manufacturers. But: “Combustion engines that are new to the market still represent a significant share of the overall market.” Coupled with an average vehicle service life of ten to 15 years, the retrofit market for vehicles with combustion engines remains significant. In addition, there are still no real alternatives to the combustion engine in the long-distance truck sector - the Banner Group sees great growth opportunities for starter batteries in the future. In addition, a 12-volt lead battery will continue to be required to supply the electric vehicle's electrical system in the future, even if it is only half the size of conventional starter batteries because it no longer has a starter function. “The expected declines in this area will be compensated for by the increasingly widespread start-stop systems that require high-quality AGM batteries,” says Bawart. Entering the currently hotly contested market for lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles is out of the question for Bawart. “A medium-sized company like ours can’t keep up.”