Pioneer Seeks Partners In Car Electronics

By Amy Gilroy -- TWICE, 3/16/2009

Tokyo — Pioneer is in talks with Mitsubishi Electric, Alpine Electronics and Clarion in a potential collaboration on car navigation and other auto equipment, said the Nikkei Business Daily on Sunday.

Pioneer is expected to choose a partner for an alliance in automotive electronics this month, said the report.

Pioneer recently said it will exit the TV business by March 2010 and focus on car electronics and other home electronics businesses.

Pioneer was not immediately available for comment, but such alliances and other restructuring have become common recently, as car aftermarket retail sales have declined.

JVC and Kenwood merged under a holding company in October, and prior to that Clarion was purchased by Hitachi. Also Blaupunkt USA was recently purchased from Bosch by the German holding company, the Aurelius Group.

Panasonic also recently exited the car stereo aftermarket but remains in the OEM market.