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Roy Harkey, Senior vice president, Clarion Clarion's senior vice president of sales Roy Harkey looks out the window of his company's spanking new $28.5 million facility here and surveys his company's transformation to a mid- to high-end car audio resource.

A one-time promotional price manufacturer, today Clarion is poised on the cutting edge of both compact disk and cellular telephone technology. Both categories are propelled through choice distribution with limited car stereo retailers, explained Harkey. What Size Speakers Are In My Car | What Speakers Fit My Car

"We are looking for defined (retail) penetration," contends Harkey, who explains that Clarion's, "limited distribution is the only common sense way to go."

Although some of the bigger stores have caught every car audio makers' eye. Clarion is bolstered by the amount of money that some superstores are spending on car installation bays. The company still maintains a popular low-end price point line that ranges in suggested retail prices from $139 to $500 -- a good line for many power retailers, believes Harkey.

Clarion's main scope for the last five years has been in its high-end line. Company efforts in this direction prompt Harkey to declare that, "We have arrived at the high-end."
Clarion's 1989 sales mirrored other companies that were also somewhat flat in units and up in dollars. Harkey credits heavy buying of CDs and other high-end amplifiers and speakers for this sales profile.

Matt Frankel, Director mobile electronics division, Sony Corp. of America Matt Frankel believes that Sony can stay one step ahead of OEM with a combination of high technology and savy.
"A lot of what faces Sony faces the industry, namely that OEM is coming out with cars that disallow aftermarket sales. So far, we have been able to augment that" said Frankel.

In order to stay that extra step ahead, believes Frankel, Sony must anticipate what the OEMs will do. "No one thought that the CD changer would take off like it has," said Frankel referring to the product which many people say Sony pioneered. "Now the rest of the world is copying Sony changers."
"As dashboards change, the aftermarket guys have to change with them ... there will always be a way."

Frankel also senses a changing retail scene, "retailers are looking for us to help them make sales," contends Frankel who points to both in-store involvement with displays as well as advertising campaigns that ultimately aid the retailer. "Certainly, with any retailer, you have to offer him something more than just a good price point.

Robert Shaw, President, International Jensen If the CD is the vehicle that will propel car audiothrough the '90s, then add-on componentry to CDs will fuel that vehicle, implies International Jensen president Robert Shaw. Jensen sales have improved markedly since Shaw and 14 other executives bought the company in a leveraged buyout from Beatrice Co. in 1988.

"Jensen is a loudspeaker company -- that's our core business," said Shaw, who feels that his company is well poised to thrive in the increasingly competitive aftermarket car audio business.
"OEM product is dramatically different then it used to be. Today you have a lot fewer people going to the retailer to buy aftermarket car audio products. But, like anything else though, there will always be new possibilities for a company that can build a better mousetrap."

Shaw predicts that many new products by companies like Jensen will account for renewed consumer interest in aftermarket add-ons. Another aftermarket advantage is the relative speed with which these companies can produce new products.

Al Kraines, President, Kraco Kraco president Al Kraines thinks his company is sitting pretty. He is not trying to compete with giant consumer electronics companies and feels he doesn't have to, he said in a recent interview in his California office. Read more How To Choose Top Best Car Speakers On The Market

Forged as a manufacturer of rubber car mats, Kraco today encompasses one of the larger car electronics market shares in the country, estimated in unit sales at about 15 percent when its private label business with Sears is factored in, believes Kraines.

Kraines envisions future markets for Kraco other than the mass merchant outlets that have been its thrust. "We are taking an up-scale position with our product.
"What's changed in the last three or four years is those that have survived the autosound business offer installation today. It's no longer good enough to buy a package and a product ... the superstore concept of providing installation can help (get sales)."

Kraines lists Sears as an example of an evolving retailer that provides installation through its automotive service centers.

Presently, Kraco is moving aggressively into supplying car audio for light trucks, a relatively untapped category until now, the company believes. Kraco feels it has a mix of installation-proof products at the right price points to make them a major player in the category.

Rick Del Guidice, National product manager, Panasonic and Technics Rick Del Guidice is confident that the car audio industry will always be able to find new products to peak the consumer's interest in the category. As national product manager for Panasonic's auto products division, Del Guidice thinks that aftermarket makers will have a consistent jump on the OEM in the 1990s since companies like his can turn trends into product within a year, when it takes the auto industry about three years to market new hardware.

"This new technology is around the corner," contends Del Guidice, who will market before long a new DSP under the Technics marquee. "We will market both Panasonic and Technics as essentially the same brand, but use Technics to introduce state-of-the-art, cutting edge products."
New products introduced at CES by Panasonic include a new CD changer, two controllers, two head units and five speakers.

" When DSP is developed and utilized, the car won't be as hostile to sound. DSP will lend a new liveliness to the environment."
As manufacturers get a grip on high technology, it is likely that prices will come down significantly, said Del Guidice.

Superstores will have a healthy chunk of that business, contends Del Guidice and a number of other industry insiders. "The mobile electronic business will be important for superstores because of the power of their advertising and the strength they have with consumers," he said, noting that power retailers will not want to get in on the ground floor of DSP because of high price points.
Jim Pedranti, Senior vice president, Sparkomatic Mass market spe******ts like Sparkomatic will be, "playing ball in an arena where there are fewer customers but where we are enjoying greater market penetration," said Jim Pedranti. View more Easy to choose the best car speakers

"There is a consolidation going on today in mass merchant stores," explained Pedranti, who added that those survivors are quickly adding stores. "Our challenge, then, is to position our products to make them attractive to these thriving retailers of the future."