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Infotainment plays growing role in automotive market

Aug. 30, 2013
Electronics suppliers get a bigger piece of the $35 billion infotainment market, with Japan’s Panasonic leading the way

The global automotive infotainment market reached $34.6 billion in 2012, and Panasonic of Japan remained the market’s top supplier for the second straight year, according to a new report from industry researcher IHS.

Panasonic posted automotive infotainment revenue of nearly $4 billion in 2012, giving it a 12% share of global market revenue, according to IHS.

“In a replication of the results of 2011, Panasonic along with the rest of the Top 10, accounted for nearly two-thirds of overall motor vehicle infotainment revenue in 2012,” says Luca de Ambroggi, principal analyst for automotive infotainment at IHS. “Of the industry’s total revenue last year of $34.6 billion, the Top 10 accounted for $22.6 billion, or 65 percent.”

Panasonic and the other companies on IHS’ list are on the leading edge of a fast-growing market for equipment that delivers information and entertainment to motorists. Increasingly, features such as connectivity, telematics and an intuitive human-machine interface count as major purchasing decisions for new-car buyers, the report shows.

What’s more, IHS points to a changing competitive landscape in the automotive infotainment world, as new players from the PC and consumer electronics industries challenge traditional Tier 1 suppliers of infotainment systems.

“Together, new and established players alike are building fresh hardware and software architectures, designed especially to allow mobile devices like smartphones and tablets to interface with in-vehicle infotainment systems,” IHS explains.

The top 5 infotainment suppliers for 2012 are Panasonic, Pioneer (also of Japan), U.S.-based Harman International, Germany’s Continental, and Alpine/Alps Electric of Japan.

Top 10 Automotive Infotainment Suppliers by Revenue in U.S. Dollars

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