GOTHENBURG, Sweden -- According to a new research report from the analyst firm Berg Insight, 4.3 million passenger cars in Europe will have an onboard telematics device at the end of 2010. Stolen vehicle tracking is still the main application, followed by automatic emergency call, driver assistance and motor insurance telematics. Berg Insight has a positive outlook for the European car telematics market in the coming five years, as the crisis for the global automotive industry is left behind. Demand for aftermarket vehicle tracking solutions is now coming back to pre-crisis levels. The OEM market segment is showing signs of increasing activity and several programs that were shelved in late 2008 have now been resurrected when the car manufacturers put new focus on their telematics strategies.
"The penetration rate is still below 2% of the total car parc, so there is a huge untapped potential", said Johan Fagerberg, Senior Analyst, Berg Insight. Across the world, new regulations and extended availability of services drive the demand for high volume, low cost telematics solutions. In Europe the eCall project has made progress and the vision of cars that automatically dial 112 after a crash is getting closer to becoming a reality. "Some vital technical standards are now in place and the EC has presented a realistic deadline for full-scale implementation by 2014", continues Mr. Fagerberg. The largest remaining obstacle is now resistance from France and the UK, which are the only major EU member states that have not expressed their support for the initiative. Berg Insight projects that the safety system will generate 15 million new telematics-enabled cars per year once implemented pushing the total number of active subscribers to 28.7 million in 2015.
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