Who Has The Best In Car Entertainment Systems?

In car entertainment is a fast growing segment of the market with some big brands battling it out for supremacy. So who are the biggest and the best?

When it comes to car audio systems, Bose remains the benchmark for enthusiasts around the world according to a 2006 Global Automotive Component Branding Study by research group J.D. Power and Associates.

The research that was based on an Internet survey of 17,651 consumers revealed that Bose has the strongest brand power not only in the United States and Japan, but worldwide.

Brand strength is measured by assessing consumers’ top-of-mind awareness, brand name/logo recognition and (impression).

Sony, which trails Bose in the United States, is the leader brand in Europe. Pioneer, Panasonic and Kenwood also exhibit brand strength globally.

Bose, whose products are currently found in vehicles from 19 auto brands, has also received praise from two major automotive magazines. 

The readers of Germany’s Auto motor und sport voted Bose as the “Best Car HiFi Brand” in 2006. In addition, four Bose sound systems were among the top 10 in the 2005 Car Audio Awards chosen by Autocar Japan.

Finally, the study shows that while Harman/Kardon, Mark Levinson and Blaupunkt earn relatively low brand awareness globally, consumers who know these brands rate them very favourably. Others, like JVC and Alpine, achieve high consumer awareness, but show room for improvement in the area of consumer favourability.

The 15 strongest audio brands in the world (based on a 1,000-point scale) are:

Bose, 665
Sony, 636
Pioneer, 571
Panasonic, 558
Kenwood, 543
Blaupunkt, 539
Alpine, 534
Harman/Kardon, 529
JVC, 526
Infinity, 520
JBL, 518
Denon, 509
Mark Levinson, 505
Technics, 505
Aiwa, 499