Blaupunkt to sell in-car navigation device in India

Blaupunkt, the in-car entertainment products company of Germany's Bosch group, is exploring the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) route to promote sales of its new in-car navigation device in India. The company is in advanced talks with OEMs such as Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki to offer TravelPilot as a factory-fitted in-car navigation device.

Martin Giersbeck, director (product centre), Driver Information Systems, Blaupunkt, said, "We are currently selling this product in India through the aftermarket network. However, to penetrate deeper into the market, we are talking to car makers to offer the product as a factory-fitted device. We are likely to finalise a deal with Tata Motors and Maruti Suzuki this month, so that our TravelPilot in-car navigation device is in their cars from next year."

The company is already supplying car radio systems to Tata Motors and Mahindra Renault Logan. Globally, Blaupunkt supplies car navigation systems to OEMs like General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, Nissan and Shanghai GM.

He said the company is currently deriving 90 per cent of its sales in European market through OEMs, while the rest comes from the aftermarket, whereas in India, it has chosen the aftermarket as the entry route to launch its product.

The maps and navigation market has exploded in recent years, especially in developed geographies like the US, Europe and some parts of Asia Pacific. Car navigation systems, popular in developed European and North American countries, have started gaining in consumer interest in emerging markets like China and Korea over the last two years and is now becoming popular in India.

According to a report by Canalys, a technology-focused analyst house, 7.4 million mobile navigation devices were shipped globally in 2007. In 2008, Blaupunkt expects to sell 2,00,000 in-car navigation device units globally, of which 10 per cent will be in the Indian market.

Recently, Blaupunkt had forayed into in-car portable navigation devices market with the launch of TravelPilot series. In the last one month, it has delivered 350 units in the country. The company will offer an upgraded version of its product using the map data from ‘MapmyIndia’.

Currently, its TravelPilot series, available in three models in the price range of Rs 18,990 to Rs 25,990, offers map data across 174 cities connected by national highways, state highways and other major roads apart from providing a huge number of point of interests across categories such as restaurants, ATMs, shopping malls etc.