'Super Premium' In-Car Entertainment Market Set to Grow According to just-auto.com
just-auto reveals a promising future for super premium In-Car Entertainment (ICE) during an exclusive interview with new automotive entrant Bowers & Wilkins.
Bromsgrove, UK (PRWEB) March 12, 2007 -- www.just-auto.com reveals a promising future for super premium In-Car Entertainment (ICE) during an exclusive interview with new automotive entrant Bowers & Wilkins.
Today's iPod generation is demanding higher quality In-Car Entertainment (ICE) systems, as the car increasingly becomes the place where consumers really enjoy their music. Consumers want excellent audio quality in their car as well as in the home. The trend is opening up significant new opportunities for providers of ICE systems.
In the premium vehicle sector, the era of 'standardised premium sound' is in decline as demanding consumers create a new market for 'super premium' ICE systems.
Spoken word as well as music
Martin Lindsay, of Bowers & Wilkins, told just-auto in an exclusive interview from the Geneva Auto Show this week, that the need for outstanding audio quality is driven not only by listening to music on the move, but also by the increasing amount of spoken content that people are consuming as they drive.
Bowers & Wilkins has been in the domestic hi-fi market since the swinging '60s, but has now entered the ICE market with a new system developed for Jaguar's XKR Portfolio model, which will be launched onto the market in the middle of the year. The model is on show in Geneva this week.
Collaborative approach yields best sound solution
Lindsay also highlighted the importance of Bowers & Wilkins' collaborative, partnership philosophy in working to get the best ICE solution.
"Restricted space, a wide range of materials, and other feature requirements pose real issues for sound engineers. To make it a true Bowers & Wilkins system, with the clarity that we strive for, we need to be in right at the start, defining speaker positions, installation angles and the components used," he said.
"We can't just be at the end of the line sticking our badge on the speaker grille. We will work closely with the OEM to ensure that nominated partners meet their requirements as well as ours, as we have amply demonstrated with the new Jaguar installation," Lindsay added.
Brand recognition is key
Lindsay also maintained that in most major markets for luxury cars, audio brand is very important. But there are interesting differences between regions and even within Europe. The Japanese, for example, place a very high value on luxury brands while in the US, features and performance are more important.
"Our brand awareness comes from both our home product and the use of our speakers in reference applications like the famous Abbey Road recording studios, giving us very strong brand credentials that can be quickly rolled out into the luxury automotive market. The buyer may not immediately recognise the brand, but he or she values the reassurance that it is founded on proven quality and high performance at the top level."
The full interview is available on just-auto at www.just-auto.com/article.aspx?id=90662&lk=prweb
About just-auto
Since March 1999, www.just-auto.com has developed into one of the most respected and fastest growing automotive trade sites globally. The site's unique news and research content is produced and sourced via a dedicated editorial team, worldwide network of correspondents and content partnerships. In addition, the just-auto.com research store provides instant access to more than 1000 reports, books and research products from leading market information providers.
###
|
