Asia News: Navigation to become a focus of GPS market in China
According to China-based CCID Consulting, China's automotive electronics market grew by 39% in 2006, generating sales revenues of RMB 86.76 billion.
815,000 GPS systems were sold in China last year, generating sales revenues of RMB 4.19 billion, an increase of 50.8% in units and 107.3% in revenues. Revenues outgrew units due primarily to big changes in product structure.
During the year, the large-scale installation of GPS in public transport vehicles did not materialise.
The market for basic-type GPS with simple positioning, anti-theft or dispatching functions grew slowly (6.7% and 5.8% respectively). In comparison, the static navigation GPS market grew rapidly (87.5%).
In 2006, Toyota, Honda and Nissan installed navigation GPS in their vehicles, and Shanghai GM, Beijing Hyundai and Chery also began to install navigation GPS in their new car models.
In 2006, the output of passenger cars with pre-installed static navigation GPS in China topped 300,000 units.
China’s portable GPS navigation market also made major progress in 2006, with numerous manufacturers introducing portable GPS navigation devices and product prices continuing to drop.
From 2007, China's car GPS market will enter a new period of growth.
Japanese car-makers will continue to lead the pre-installed market, with all high-end Japanese cars and some new car models to feature pre-installed navigation GPS.
The rapid rise of the post-installed portable GPS navigation product market now hinges on only one issue: i.e. services relating to GPS navigation products. These include traffic and road condition information services, parking space information services and POI information.
If the market experiences large scale expansion, the price of portable GPS navigation products may well drop below RMB 1,500.
