For the first time since 2007, the aftermarket will see an increase in audio shipments to dealers in both units and dollars, due, in part, to the rise in used car sales and consumers keeping cars longer, according to the Consumer Technology Assn (CTA) and its latest One-Year Industry Forecast .
Audio, in this case, includes audio-only car receivers, amplifiers and speakers, which will jump 19 percent in 2021 over last year predicts the CTA. Wholesale revenues will hit $740 million, up from $623 million in 2020. The gains will continue next year as well, with revenues forecast to reach $751 million.
The CTA separates car audio from car video. Video receivers and monitors of all types will jump to $466 million in shipments up from $389 million in 2020 and the category will also continue to gain in 2022, hitting $481 million.
The CTA is bullish on car AV over the next couple of years as new car sales stumble due to semiconductor chip shortages.
“It will take a couple of years for new car sales to pick back up. There will be a lot of opportunity for installers in people upgrading their cars,” said Richard Kowalski, CTA Director, Industry Analysis and Business Intelligence.
Other aftermarket categories will ride the same coattails of the wave in used car sales and consumers holding onto cars longer, Kowalski said.
Aftermarket driver assist systems are expected to climb to 533,000 units in 2021, up from 502,000 in 2020, with wholesale revenues rising to $388 million, up from $361 million last year. The climb will continue in 2022, hitting 560,000 units and $407 million.
We asked the CTA if Advanced Driver Assist Systems (ADAS) were growing at a slower pace than expected. Kowalski said, “We expected the ADAS market to open up a little faster, assuming price points would come down on lane departure-type aftermarket solutions. But prices are still relatively high so as to be prohibitive to consumers.” A key use of aftermarket ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) is in sales to fleet owners at the moment, he said, adding, that if prices come down, ADAS should see demand increase among consumers.
Photo: Car Toys Hi-Res Audio demo room
If they can get a 19% increase with all these product shortages, imagine how much of an increase it would have been if we could actually get enough product to sell.
This data is a breath of fresh air that our industry surely needed.