JVC 2012 Annual Report Download - page 19

A business domain in which Japanese corporations can
exercise their strengths, car electronics must be of a high
quality and reliable enough to cope with the special
temperature, vibration, and dust conditions inside vehicles.
The JVCKENWOOD Group has positioned the Car
Electronics business, in which both JVC and Kenwood
participated, as its largest business. We expect this
business to display the greatest effects of integration, and
have therefore been pushing forward with efforts to
integrate the technological development, production,
procurement, product planning, and marketing functions
in this business since October 2007. Over many years, the
two companies had fostered acoustic, video, and car-
mounting technologies as well as product planning
capabilities. We have focused on developing new products
by combining these with cutting-edge data compression
and extension technologies as well as user interface
technologies. In addition, we have developed marketing
and sales strategies by making the most of the Kenwood
and JVC brands, each of which have different features. At
the same time, we have further enhanced our cost
competitiveness by integrating production and
procurement.
As a result, in the after-market segment, which
accounts for a large proportion of our sales, we have
achieved and are maintaining the largest share in the
European and U.S. after-market for car navigation systems
and car audio. Unlike the overseas after-market, the main
product in the domestic after-market is car navigation
systems. We are rapidly increasing our share of the
domestic market, where the Saisoku-Navi, a car
navigation system with a memory function developed by
integrating the technologies of the two companies, has
become a big hit.
Keeping an eye on the shift from the after-market to
the genuine product market, we are increasing orders
received for dealer-option products for automobile dealers
and genuine products for automobile manufacturers. We
are achieving this by strengthening the OEM segment and
forming alliances with partner corporations. We are also
quickly expanding the business scale of CD and DVD drive
mechanisms for car-mounted equipment by winning large
orders not only from Japanese but also from European
One of the pillars of JVCKENWOODs growth strategies, the Car Electronics
business consists of after-market and OEM products, such as car navigation, AV,
and audio systems as well as car-mounted devices, such as optical disk drive
mechanisms and optical pickups.
and U.S. car accessory manufacturers. These orders are
backed by our top-level product quality, merchandising
capabilities, and cost performance.
From now on, we will aim to expand our market share
in the after-market segment by enhancing our Saisoku-
Navi lineup, which continues to be a hit product in the
domestic after-market, by acquiring new distribution
channels and by diverting this lineup to dealer-option
products. In the overseas after-market, we will increase
our lineup of products with enhanced connection to
smartphones, such as display audio systems with
MirrorLink™ integration between smartphones and
car-mounted equipment. In addition, we will launch
Saisoku-Navi in the overseas after-market. At the same
time, we will aim to expand sales in emerging markets by
introducing strategic models, which will be differentiated
from the models offered in Europe and the United States.
In the OEM segment, we will strive to obtain new
orders for products for automobile manufacturers as well
as dealer-option products for automobile dealers by
leveraging our strength in the after-market and
cooperating with partners. In the CD/DVD mechanisms for
the car-mounted AV systems segment, we will make the
most of a capital and business alliance with Shinwa
International Holdings Limited, which became an equity-
method Group subsidiary in April 2012, with a view to
expanding and strengthening business in emerging
markets, especially in the Chinese market which continues
to offer prospects for significant growth.
Focusing on establishing a car-mounted network
environment, we will apply the imaging, video, sound and
data compression and extension technologies
accumulated in the Home & Mobile Electronics business to
the Car Electronics business. To these technologies we will
add those of the land mobile radio equipment segment in
wireless communication and the Company-wide, cross-
sectional, cutting-edge elemental technologies handled by
the Kurihama R&D Center. In this way, we will expand the
product mix of the Car Electronics business, which is
centered on head units, speakers, and amplifiers, to
automotive network products and services by interfacing
with head-up displays, cameras, and external servers as
well as external mobile devices.
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JVC KENWOOD Corporation