Well, one group made out a study and they have found out that for the 2007 model year, a huge amount of the vehicle units would be offering car audio systems as part of the whole deal. This study was done by the Telematics Research Group, or the TRG. According to the mentioned group, some eighty per cent of the 2007 vehicle models that would be going on sale in the United States auto market would be having car audio systems as part of the equipment. However, this is not where the fun ends. These eighty per cent of the vehicles would be actually offering those audio systems with brands.



Phil Magney is the principal analyst of the TRG and he does stress, ?As the name implies, branded audio is when Original Equipment Auto Manufacturers partner with a known audio brand to sell premium audio solutions. Well known brands in the consumer audio space such as Harman/Kardon, Bose, and Boston Acoustics top the list, but the list of partners is growing as more automotive OEMs strike up unique marketing partnerships with famous names in audio.?

With consumers and vehicle owners wanting to use their portable media players like MP3s and iPods, most vehicle manufacturers have also made sure that the vehicle units that they would be sending out to the market would be able to play such devices. In fact, TRG was able to find that some three quarters of the whole 2007 model vehicles would be coming with support for such audio files. iPod integration has also been made possible with almost half vehicles for 2007 having an auxiliary input for this musical device.

Magney does continue, ?The rapid adoption of available solutions from automotive OEMs is a stark contrast to the normal multi-year product development cycle in the automotive industry. The variety of solutions reflects the swiftly changing landscape of the mobile audio market where branded audio solutions, premium quality and device integration are driving market growth.?