The demand for OE embedded navigation in China is increasing rapidly, presenting an ‘as yet untapped’ revenue stream for all stakeholders. However, success requires careful planning and a thorough knowledge of not only the market trends, but also the opportunity for bespoke partnerships and specific consideration for HMI and mapping design.

Over the past five years, the growth in China’s car ownership has been rapid. At its peak in 2007, annual growth in car sales reached 20%. The recent economic slow-down reduced growth in 2008 to 7%, but this still keeps China in its position as the most vibrant market for private cars.

OE navigation is no longer restricted to foreign vehicle manufacturers and their joint ventures but to independent Chinese carmakers as well...

The growth in vehicle sales has been accompanied by increasing consumer interest in OE embedded navigation systems. Three years ago, embedded navigation was restricted to luxury imported vehicles and sales were very low. In 2008, the market for OE embedded navigation has evolved to include mid-range vehicles manufactured in China, in addition to the imported cars. The fitment rate is gradually increasing in parallel to this growing availability of systems offered in mid-range vehicle and looks to reach approximately 10% by 2010.

And as Chinese consumers gain more experience of OE navigation systems, there follows demand for more sophisticated features like traffic information, map updates and improved Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI).

In a research package for China, SBD provide a complete solution with combined analysis of the market trends, a feature database and an exclusive photo library.

Request more information about this research by contacting Juanita Appleby on jappleby@sbd.co.uk