NEWS
The most desirable in-car technology for UK car-buyers is satellite navigation. That is until they find out how much it costs.
Typically costing £1,500 as an option, sat-nav is the must-have in-car tech at the moment. But, according to a JD Power survey, high price is the main barrier to car buyers choosing to specify satellite navigation systems.
Although 75 per cent of respondents initially stated they would be interested in in-car navigation as an option, this soon changed when prices were revealed - sat-nav fell from first to 12th most desired technology, with reverse assist becoming the most popular.
The survey also highlights that many emerging in-car technologies that consumers are aware of in the US have made much less of an impact in Europe. Systems such as blind spot detection (65 per cent) and satellite radio (44 per cent) have not penetrated the European market to the same extent as in the US.
If manufacturers continue to charge such a premium for a technology as popular as sat-nav, it seems it could represent a further opportunity for manufacturers of after-market navigation systems to take advantage.
Comments
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1. anonymous
... why not buy a hand-held device? Is less than £400 and can also be used outside of the car. Also one of the smart phones that include gps is less than £200...
2. anonymous
£1200 to have a gadget to help you get lost. Or what about revering aids.
How about learning how to drive properly!!!
The majority of bad driving i see is by drivers with a tomtom stuck to the windscreen telling them where to go, unfortunately it does not tell them how to drive a car.
Reversing aids - can you not look out the back or use the mirrors to reverse!!!!
Surely the need for these gadgets should render you incapable of driving.
3. Simon
In reply to Anonymous Student - the main differences between built in and portable are :
The built in one is clutter free. Typically the dashboard already has the space, if not the screen. If you're spending 20grand or 30grand or ... for a new car, most people don't then want to attach some gadget to their screen with a rubber sucker !
A portable unit doesn't work if you have a heated front screen.
A built in one will provide significantly better performance. It can be connected to things like the speedo drive to allow it to count wheel turns and the steering - this allows significant improvements in accuracy of navigation over GPS alone by comparing the cars actual movements with the road network in the area the GPS has narrowed you down to. It can also continue to navigate in the (partial or total) absence of a GPS signal - in urban canyons, under dense trees, through tunnels, etc.
4. anonymous
Simon
Sorry but they do work if you have a heated front screen. Had to evaluate one a while ago, and worked fine in a Fiesta with heated front screen.
I totally agree the trailing wires are a pain where the sun doesn't shine. Cleaning the rubber marks off can be a pain as well. To top that off it is one hell of a distraction (possibly far worse than a mobile phone (if you do not believe me then try it and be honest)), found myself looking at the screen when should have been watching the road.
They are no substitute for an up to date road map and the ability to drive.
5. Gareth Davies
Yes you can get a very good portable unit - the Garmin Streetpilot i3 - for as little as £120 at certain retailers. So the question is why are the manufacturers still asking for SO much more if you want Satnav as a fitted option for you car. The cost of portbale units has been dropping at an incredible rate, but unfortunately it appear sthe car manufacturers still wnat to charge us a highly inflated price for built-in satnav - and that's why there's not much uptake.
For example, if you wnat to specify sat nav for the new Lexus IS range, in the UK this can ONLY be purchased as part of their "Multimedia pack" which also includes bluetooth, voice control and reversing camers. A very nice option - until you discover they want an additional £2,700 for it!!
6. Roy Corneloues
As I drive a company car I was able to pick a car with SatNav "as standard" and all was well and good with my nice built in touch screen unit until I found out how much it would cost to replace the DVD that supplies the maps - £180!!!
How long until we can get a built in system that supports either a memory card slot for map updates or WiFi to your home BB from the drive or hotspot for map updates.
I agree with the other post about car manufacturers. They are charging a fortune for something that just happens to be built in where hand held users can get free updates...
7. Mike G
Agreed - Hand held PDA Sat-Nav's are extremley cost effective - mine has full functionality with saftey camera alerts etc all for less than £350. Why would you want to buy an integrated version when we all drive different cars much of the time. I took mine on holiday recently - popped it into the hire care and away we went. Also, of course the same device provides me with wireless internet access and acts brilliantly well as my personal info mgr, Outlook mail, contacts, tasks etc. Don't pay exorbitant car manufacturer prices!
8. derek aldridge
They said cars would never replace horses. Ready cooked dinners would never take off.Flying machines would never take off. Get with it!!.Sat Nav is here to stay! All vehicles will have sat nav as standard once voice recognition is perfected.
dcalduk@yahoo.co.uk