"U.S. Automakers Tuning Out HD Radio
America's big three automakers remain unimpressed with HD Radio and
are unlikely to add it as an OEM option anytime soon, according to a
April 26 Reuters news report. The article, entitled US Automakers not
jumping into HD Radio, says that GM and Chrysler are thus far
resisting adding the option at a time when all U.S. automakers are
under financial stress and some are losing market share to foreign
competition. Driving this point home was one GM source, quoted as
saying that his company "was not inclined to test the market at this
time."
Thus far Ibiquity has only been able to convince foreign-based
automakers such as BMW, Hyundai and Ford-owned Jaguar to publicly
commit to factory HD Radio options, though the HD Digital Radio
Alliance's Peter Ferrara says more groups will be joining them soon.
Heavy commitments to satellite radio, which is not moving as well as
some automakers had hoped, are part of the problem, according to
Ferrara. But the alliance and HD Radio technology developer Ibiquity
say they remain optimistic that Detroit's attitude will eventually
shift as demand for satellite receivers wanes and consumer demand for
HD Radio increases."
Also from today's issue of Radio Magazine:
"But by far the most troubling finding in Bridge's latest research
concerns consumers favoring the adoption of HD Radio. The percentage
among those who report "awareness" of the technology is actually lower
now than just a year ago. While reported awareness was up significantly-
-about 10 percent for ages 12+--a slightly larger percentage of this
group reported that they were not interested in purchasing a receiver.
Analysts for Bridge believe that this finding is directly attributable
to a perceived lack of a significant relative advantage for the
technology. Based on their findings, Bridge has revised their receiver
penetration estimates downward to about one million by the end of 2008."
More on the survey somewhere on this site - Im too lazy to look for it:
http://www.bridgeratings.com/
