Kenwood Achieved Top Three Market Share in Every Category, It Says
LAS VEGAS -- Kenwood achieved top three market share for 2010 among U.S. car electronics companies in all five major 12-volt product categories, said Keith Lehmann, senior vice president of Kenwood U.S.A., at a CES news conference Friday. A year ago at CES, he said Kenwood was the only manufacturer with a top-five market share in 2009 for all five categories, and it was the third straight year it achieved that (CED Jan 12 p2). The categories were multimedia, in-dash navigation, in-dash CD receivers, amps and speakers.
Kenwood’s strong performance came despite “challenges” to the industry, especially with speakers in the 12-volt sector, Lehmann said. To deal with market difficulties, the company is launching the Kenwood Leadership Initiative, “a comprehensive business development and support program for authorized Kenwood dealers,” it said. In the program, the company intends to step up policy enforcement, including efforts to crack down on unauthorized sales of its products, Lehmann said. The program will also help authorized dealers attract new customers through social networking, he said. To that end, it set up a Facebook page, he said.
Kenwood is also continuing its consumer rebate program with navigation company Garmin for the fourth year, Lehmann said. Social networking will play a role in that campaign, and “e-mail blasts” are also planned to promote it, he said. More “merchandising tools will be made available to dealers, and specifics will be announced as the program approaches,” Kenwood said. Consumers will be able to get up to a $150 rebate, depending on the product, Lehmann said.
Other 2011 efforts by Kenwood include a Supercharge Your Spring promotion, a dealer purchase-incentive program through April that the company said offers increased margins in every product category to qualifying dealers of its higher-end Kenwood Excelon-branded merchandise. An X Rewards sales and installation incentive program will kick off for dealers after the spring program, and the company is repeating its Getaway With Kenwood dealer incentive program, in which retailers who achieve certain Kenwood support targets through June will qualify this time to win a vacation for two to Jamaica, Lehmann said.
The company introduced 41 products at CES, including a new flagship navigation system, the Excelon DNX9980HD with built-in HD Radio, shipping in March at about $2,000. In keeping with a major theme at CES among 12-volt manufacturers, nine of the company’s head units feature Pandora Internet Radio link, including the DNX9980HD. Other new Kenwood products featuring Pandora link include the Excelon KDC-X995 flagship CD receiver ($380, March) and the Kenwood second-generation digital media receivers, the $500 KIV-BT901 and $450 KIV-701, both shipping in April. The 901 adds built-in Bluetooth.
Kenwood will also ship the KDC-HD548U, a $200 replacement for its KDC-HD545U that will ship next month. The new model features HD Radio, and a dedicated HD Radio and iTunes tagging button will be featured on its faceplate next to the volume knob, Kenwood said. The 545U was the No. 1-selling CD receiver with integrated HD Radio from April to October, Kenwood said, citing NPD data.