Blaupunkt enters in-car navigation market

Blaupunkt is the third organised player after SatNav and MapmyIndia in this nascent market, which is estimated at 50,000 units this year.

Announcing the launch here, V K Viswanathan, Managing Director, Bosch Ltd, said: "We have been innovating new technologies for the mass market. Blaupunkt's latest product reflects our technological prowess and commitment towards the development of user-friendly advanced navigation systems."

To begin with the company aims to sell the product through the after market. It is presently in talks with several OEMs for introducing the product as a standard fitment, he said.

Blaupunkt's TravelPilot series of car navigation devices uses the maps from MapmyIndia and contain geographical information about 170 cities in the country.

The maps will provide with comprehensive road and navigation information across the country through national highways, state highways and other major roads apart from providing a huge number of point of interests across categories such as restaurants, hospitals, ATMs, fuel stations, shopping malls among others.

Ajay Sahney, country head, Blaupunkt India said the in-car navigation devices market is likely to witness sales of nearly 200,000 units by 2010 and the company aims to capture a sizeable portion of the market. Blaupunkt's products are priced in the range of Rs 18,990-25,990.