At the Connected Car Show this week, Pioneer and VOXX discussed the most popular 12 volt upgrade.
During a panel on personalizing the car, moderator Chris Cook of MEA, which sponsored the show, asked panelists “What is the most requested aftermarket upgrade?”
Pioneer VP Marketing Ted Cardenas said it’s still Bluetooth.
“For most consumers, it means something as simple as Bluetooth.,” he said. “That’s probably our top requested [upgrade]. But the one that makes consumers eyes light up is the ability to connect their smartphone and with Android Auto or CarPlay; they have all their content now in the dashboard.”
Joe Caltabiano, Director of Business Development at VOXX, which makes products like remote start and advanced driver safety products, said connected rear seat entertainment is still at the top of its consumers’ lists. But in driver safety, blind spot detection is “one of the heaviest categories that we have the most requests for.” He continued, “You can replace tail lights, add some indicator lights and what was a $2,500 package at the OE level is now available at a discounted price.”
A third panelist John Waraniak, VP of Vehicle Technology at SEMA pointed to that organization’s recent Advanced Vehicle Technology report which found that advanced driver safety is a $1.5 billion opportunity for the aftermarket today, expanding to $6 billion over the next few years. For OEMs, it’s an $8 billion market.
Cook noted that there are about 6,000 aftermarket car audio shops today including Best Buy outlets. They could each gain $80 – $100,000 in plus business in driver safety each year if they promoted driver safety products such as blind spot detectors, forward collision warning devices, cross traffic alerts and more.
The panel was followed by a second session that discussed a trial of vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and vehicle to infrastructure) V2X technology taking place in lower Manhattan over the next two years.
aftermarket driver safety products work, and will continue to work if installed properly.
Exactly. The OEM manufacturers would not accept most of the products that we have to sell.Customer satisfaction would be an issue.
The problem with aftermarket driver safety products is that they suck & work nothing like OEM & until they meet the OEM level i won’t sell it
You’re missing out on a HUGE market by not selling it. System like Mobileye and Rydeen offer blind side systems and have been out for a few years now and work great and are also very profitbale
*SOME* aftermarket driver safety product is crap. However things like Parking sensors, Blind Spot and reverse cameras are just as good as oem.
I completely disagree about the RSE comment. That’s a dead category.