10 Car Audio brands to sweeten the sound your vehicle makes

1. Pioneer: Formed in 1938 Pioneer was so famous at one point in time that 40% of the duplicates were sold in its name. The company makes and sells Amplifiers, component speakers, Co-axial speakers, subwoofers, head units and audio processors. The premium products are categorized as 'Premier'.

 website- www.pioneer-india.in

2. Kenwood-JVC: The Behemoth in car audio and Wireless products joined hands with the electronics giant to form JVC Kenwood corporation in 2008. Till date the products do retain their independent identity. Kenwood makes and sells navigation units, Head units, component speakers, co-axial speakers, amplifiers and subwoofers.The premium products are categorized as 'Excelon'.

www.india.kenwood.com

JVC makes and sells products under JVC mobile brand name. The company makes and sells Multimedia units, head units, co-axial speakers, subwoofers and amplifiers.The premium products are categorized as 'drvn' replacing 'Exad'.

www.jvc.co.in

3. Alpine: Formed by a joint with Motorola Alpine bought out the American company's stake after being founded in 1967. The company range includes head units, multimedia units, sound processors, amplifiers, component speakers, coaxial speakers and subwoofers. Their premium range is categorized as 'F1'.


http://www.alpine-asia.com/india

4. Clarion: Clarion was formed in 1940 in Japan. upto until a few years Clarion had a minority stake in Nissan. The company manufactures Multimedia units, Head units, navigation units, amplifiers, coaxial speakers, component speakers and subwoofers. The company doesn't have a dedicated premium lineup.

http://www.clarion.com/in/en/top.html

5. Blaupunkt: Blaupunkt is one of the oldest car audio manufacturers to date founded in 1923 as 'Ideal'. The company has recently been spun off by Bosch to Aurelius AG. The company produces Head units, co-axial speakers, subwoofer and amplifiers.

www.blaupunkt.com

6. Harman international (JBL, Infinity, Harman Kardon, Mark Levinson): Usually known in India by its brand JBL, was formed in 1946.The Indian arm is mostly taken care of by Sahil International. The company also known for its home audio products makes and sells co-axial speakers, component speakers, subwoofer, amplifiers, Head units and sound processors. The premium products are sold under the Infinity brand name.

www.indiajbl.com

7. Rockford Fosgate: Rockford Corp was founded in 1980 mostly as an amplifier manufacturer. The company manufactures and sells Head units, signal processors, amplifiers, co-speakers, component speakers and subwoofer. The company also has a separate value brand named Lightning Audio. The premium products in Rockford Line are sold under 'Power' name.

www.rockfordindia.com

8. Soundstream: Soundstream is now owned by Power Acoustik which also sells under power acoustik/ epsilon/ Kole/SPL/ farenheit/ Precision power. While the Soundstream of yore competed with Rocford Fosgate for its quality amplifiers (Lil wonder and Human reign) the company had a fall after Chinese took over the market with Duplicates. After a decade the company's products have again been reviewed to have the same quality levels. The company manufactures and sells amplifiers, subwoofers, component speakers, co-axial speakers, signal processors, power management kits, multimedia units, visual displays. Soundstream Human reign and lil wonder are its premium range products.

www.sspl.com

9. Kicker: Kicker car audio is a leader in car audio at present. The company was formed in 1973 and now owned by Stillwater designs inc. The company manufactures and sells Amplifiers, Subwoofers, Component speakers, co-axial speakers, subwoofer boxes and signal processors.

www.kickerindia.com

10.Mcintosh/ Denon/ Boston Acoustics:  Denon Marantz holdings or D&M inc has one of the best quality audio brands under its kitty. That is the reason it features here before reputed names such as Focal audio and JL audio. The companys Mcintosh car Head units are supposedly the best in the business while Boston Acoustics manufactures quality speakers. The company has a range of head units, component speakrs, amplifiers, co-axial speakers, subwoofers and signal processors.

www.ap.bostonacoustics.com

HM launches a new vehicle part-II

Continued from http://boyracer.blogspot.com/2011/08/hm-launches-new-vehicle.html

A recent article has caught my eye recently and I will be putting it down here. The reason why this article is important is because the author has taken the pains to provide some correct information which is not readily available.

The car with a made-in-Calcutta tag is going retro to stay relevant in the age of sleeker, stronger and speedier.

A team of 30 engineers is racing against time at Hindustan Motors’s new R&D centre in Uttarpara to rebuild the Ambassador into a city slicker with fashionably retro styling and a peppier engine under the bonnet.

Already late by a year, the retro Ambassador will finally hit the road in its hatchback and sedan versions next August. “We are going to relaunch the Ambassador on a new platform, and with a lot of technical changes, in the second quarter of 2012,” Prakash Jha, the managing director of Hindustan Motors, confirmed to Metro.

The Amby revamp project had been outsourced to the Pune-based Onio Design Pvt Ltd, which did the initial design and research for the retro car. “We have since taken over the project and have been working on it since last February,” said Sandhya Pande, head, Vehicle Strategies & Development. 

The new Ambassador will retain the monocoque platform that gave the vehicle its roominess. “We will also maintain its heritage look and iconic features,” Pande said. 

What will change are the engine, transmission and suspension sytems. The Ambassador will have a peppier engine of 1.5 litres and 1.8 litres respectively for the hatchback and sedan. While the company is due to launch a BS IV-compliant petrol engine for the current Ambassador by the end of this fiscal, the new Ambassador will have a CrDi engine (diesel motor) that is being sourced from Europe. 

The hatchback, the prototype of which is ready for tests, will be less than four metres in length to make it eligible for excise cuts. It is likely to be priced between Rs 3.5 and Rs 4 lakh, a company spokesman said. 

The entry-level sedan will offer C-segment luxury features like leather seats, a new retro-looking dashboard, Bluetooth and other gizmos. Safety features like ABS (anti-lock braking system) and EBD (electronic brake distribution) will be optional. Coming to the other car based on the new Ambassador, the retro Ambassador sedan will compete with the current crop of C-segment sedans with the 1.5 Liter CRDI diesel engine and the 1.8 Liter BS4 petrol engines powering it. While the common rail turbo diesel engine is being developed from scratch, we hope that the 1.8 Liter Isuzu petrol unit gets more than just a BS4 certification compliance, as it isn’t exactly known for its frugalness, one factor which is the need of the hour in India. The C-Segment Ambassador sedan will have a host of new features like ABS, EBD and leather seats to add to the luxury quotient.

“The Ambassador is known for its product life cycle, safety and robustness. When the state government was phasing out commercial vehicles 15 years and older, we had 20-year-old taxis on the road. Tell me, which vehicle has such a long running life?” demanded managing director Jha.

The current model of the Ambassador is based on the 1950s Morris Oxford III. The UK-based Morris Motor Company, of course, discontinued the model about 50 years ago. 

Hindustan Motors has often been accused of being reluctant to adapt to newer technologies. Automobile designer Dilip Chhabria, who created the Rs 4.4-crore Amberoid that was inspired by the Ambassador, said: “It is an uphill task for the company (to revive the Amby). Apart from some very timid efforts, they haven’t done anything to it for decades. Being an icon is what has powered Amby sales since 1950s. I believe the company should treat it the way Porsche has treated the 911 and BMW has treated the Mini.” 

The Ambassador sold 8800 units in 2009-10, but and the figure dwindled to 6,700 units in 2010-11. The retro Amby is, therefore, Hindustan Motors’s last-ditch effort to revive this iconic passenger car that ruled the roads through the sixties and seventies till the Maruti 800 changed the way people drove in India.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1110811/jsp/calcutta/story_14357767.jsp
By- Anasuya Basu

HM Launches a new vehicle

HM has just lauched the Veer. It reminds me of HP Veer. Apart from the sealed fate both do not have much in common.

HM has recently reported to BIFR as reported by me here. http://boyracer.blogspot.com/2010/05/hindustan-motors-reports-to-bifr-as.html Since then, the Managing Director resigned and company got in Mr. Manoj Jha as replacement.

The rein holder definitely wanted to make some noise and HM announced an Ambassador Redesign. Rumours were spread that HM was getting help from Studios in Italy. Fact was HM only visited a domestic company named 'Onio' designs.

After months of wait for HM supporters HM has finally launched the HM Veer. The sad part is Veer looks nothing more than a redesigned Hindustan Porter

It shouldn't be much of surprise how HM is moving towards commercial vehicles segment with the launch of HM Veer and Shifeng sourced Winner. But The sad part is the ill developed product. Mahindra and Tata both have succesfully capture the single cab pickup and double cab pickup markets with vehicles like the Tata Xenon, Tata TL4x4, Mahinra Getaway and Mahindra Camper. These vehicles also had a limited niche market appeal. Sadly, HM Veer falls in the no mans land.

With a focus on the commercial vehicle segment, ailing auto maker Hindustan Motors (HM) is expecting a revival of fortune in another three years' time, a top company official said on Monday. The vehicle priced at 3.3 lakh (ex showroom Kolkata) is built on the Ambassador platform of the company's Uttarpara facility in West Bengal.“We have honoured our commitment by launching Veer. Four new vehicles will also be launched this year. These will come both from our Uttarpara and Chennai plants,” he said.

It was speculated that HM might launch a sub 4 metre sedan/hatch aka the Verito or Indigo CS. But Hindustan Motors has instead decided to go for a commercial passenger segment with the next product being a 7-9 seater Van again based on the Ambassador.

The company sold 10000 units of the Ambassador last fiscal and with the launch of the variant of the same platform it is hoping to sell 50000 units. Sadly, for enthusiasts, the company does not have plans to relaunch the Contessa or upgrade the Ambassador platform to compete in the retail customer segment. Neither is there a cash strapped plan to build a seventh generation lancer derived Hatchback to compete with the Toyota Etios/Liva and Mahindra Verito. The company has also lacked the vision to study how Lincoln Town car and Austin LT cabs kept the companies alive while they built on their brands using newer platforms.

 Priced at 330000 INR, the vehicle retains the same engines used on the Ambassador.