Pioneer, the world's leading manufacturer of in-car products, is likely to be a direct supplier of entertainment systems to vehicles of Maruti, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Toyota.
Pioneer, through its marketing partner Autocop India, will supply a range of products like WMA, MP3, CD players and speakers to the three companies.
"Pioneer is in talks with these companies. We are expecting a positive response from them," said a senior Pioneer official in Delhi.
Umesh Deshpande, president & chief executive officer, Autocop India, said, "Maruti, M&M and Toyota are in the final stages of agreement with Pioneer. Now that Pioneer is present in the country, these players could deal with the company directly. Our joint venture (with Pioneer) will offer innovative products with better pricing, retail and after sales support."
Pioneer already supplies to General Motors and Hyundai.
The company is expected to pose tough competition to players such as Kenwood and Sony, which also provide in-car systems to Maruti and Toyota. "Pioneer is expected to replace Kenwood in some of these companies," said an industry source.
The entire range of Pioneer products including head units, amplifiers and speakers will be sold through Autocop's retail network of 3,000 authorised dealers. The products are priced in the range of Rs 5,990-15,490 in the retail market.
Pioneer has targeted to capture 10 per cent of the auto entertainment market, expecting sales of Rs 90 crore (Rs 900 million), in the first year of its operations in the country.
The replacement market for in-car entertainment products is Rs 1,000 crore (Rs 10 billion). At present, Blaupunkt, Kenwood, Philips and Sony are other players in the market.
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