Kenwood 2000 Annual Report Download - page 11

Car Audio
KENWOOD Corporation Annual Report 2000
9
particular personal likings.
For the overseas market, we will introduce
highly competitive new models carefully
designed for the particular needs and
tastes of each market, such as home
theater systems for the North
American market and mini component
systems for the Asian market.
Overview
Sales of the Car Audio for the year ended March 2000 were
¥108.0 billion, 5.6% less than the previous year.
Domestic sales were up by 3.2% and reached ¥41.6 billion.
Automobile sales showed no signs of recovery and the after-
market sales of car audio remained at almost the same level.
On the other hand, new DVD navigation systems performed
extremely well since their introduction, and OEM sales to
automobile manufacturers and distributors soared by 24.8%.
Sales in the overseas market were ¥66.5 billion, 10.3% less
than the previous year. In addition to the "MASK" series,
which continued to excel in the US market, the middle class
"D MASK" series was added to the line-up in January 2000
and gained in popularity. As for DAB receivers in the
European market, the company has started mass-production
of a brand-new model which is considerably smaller than
existing models. It is an indication of Kenwood's
preparedness for the digital broadcasting technology
sprouting all over the world.
Strategy and Prospects
Kenwood's significant share of the world's after-market
proves the superior quality, features and design of its
products, as
well as the firm
establishment of its
brand name. To build on its
strength, Kenwood plans to
introduce attractive new products,
including DVD navigation systems which
have proven to be extremely successful in Japan,
to the US and European markets.
On the other hand, the company's share in OEM
businesses is still small and global sales remain at ¥15.0
billion. This means there is a room for expansion and
various strategies are currently being formulated to increase
sales. One of them is to seek business partners among
influential suppliers of automobile parts. In Japan, a DVD
navigation system was developed in a joint effort with
Denso, a Toyota affiliate. In Latin America, a complete
knockdown assembly of car audio products is in progress at
a factory belonging to Visteon, an affiliate of Ford Motors.
The tie-up with Visteon could serve as a stepping-stone in
our company's strategy to penetrate into the North American
market.
In February 2000, Kenwood started the marketing of a
car audio system with a built-in MP3 decoder, the first of its
kind in the industry, and that model has attracted many PC
users, a new customer group for Kenwood. So far it has
proven to be successful, exceeding the original sales plan.
Home Audio
Car Audio
Sales of Home Audio Products (Consolidated)
(Billions of yen)
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
050 100
Sales of Car Audio Products (Consolidated)
(Billions of yen)
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
035 70 105