German car-magazine Auto, Motor und Sport presents the list of "Best Brands 2008".
Readers of the magazine have chosen the best brands of suppliers for the automobile industry.

In the category Car Hifi :

1. Bang & Olufsen
2. Bose
3. Becker
4. Harman/Kardon
5. Blaupunkt / Velocity
6. Alpine
7. Sony
8. Pioneer
9. Kenwood
10. Panasonic 

Interesting is that B&O may keep or even extend this leading role as
next to Audi there will be co-operations between B&O and other car-brands
because the exclusivity-agreement between Audi and B&O will end soon.
First example is Aston Martin.

Source: Auto, Motor und Sport 

that's brilliant news 

a niche that IS worth chasing , forget the ipod clones and the mobiles

go for the car audio market !!!

i recall nakamichi ( shows how old i am ) were once the ultimate in all that , now they're more or less finished , bno have a real chance to dominate the market 

i'd love a bno radio/cd in my merc ! 

Totally agree. This exposes non-B&O customers to the brand's excellence, and should be a major area of activity. Their interim CEO has stated that it will remain a company priority.

It's interesting that Ford have allowed Aston and Jaguar to pursue different directions, Aston with B&O and Jag with Bowers & Wilkens.

I was actually curious about that. Have B&W systems actually been put into cars yet or are they about to debut in new models (like the XF)? It seems like they'd be on the list if they were already out.

If you believe the hype they were meant to be "the first component selected for the interior before the design began and the car interior was designed around the custom speaker system"

To debut in the XF.

Puncher:

It's interesting that Ford have allowed Aston and Jaguar to pursue different directions, Aston with B&O and Jag with Bowers & Wilkens.

Aston Martin is no longer owned by Ford.
Currently it is owned by investment-group / David Richards.

 

TripEnglish:

I was actually curious about that. Have B&W systems actually been put into cars yet or are they about to debut in new models (like the XF)? It seems like they'd be on the list if they were already out.

Also the XKR Portfolio

B&W car audio 

Good news. But what is Bose doing on number 2? I'm not a huge fan of their equipment.

Me neither,
and yet by many regarded a premium car-hifi ...
Number 1 and 2 on the list were a close call, only a few points fifference.  

 

Great news for B&O, I know I would rather the B&O system over a Bose any day. Only ever seen a Bose headunit in an Audi S4 my friend owned. Nothing special about it really, not sure about the speakers.

 

 

 

 

Craig

Excellent news for  B&O, but I doubt if this list is really representative. It would be more interesting to see a list of the best-selling car-audio-systems IMO.

I would have expected Linn amongst contenders in the list as it used in astons before and is top brand ? Any idea`s

EOB:

I would have expected Linn amongst contenders in the list as it used in astons before and is top brand ? Any idea`s

 

Or Mark Levinson as installed in Lexus.