NAVTEQ, a digital map database supplier, reports that over 1 million vehicles were sold in North America with factory-installed navigation systems in the first 10 months of 2005, representing 40 percent growth year-over-year. Over 90 percent of these vehicles use NAVTEQ map data.

As factory-installed navigation systems have moved from a luxury car option to a mainstream item, sales have skyrocketed. However, Telematics Research Group reports that 61 percent of built-in navigation systems still go into luxury vehicles.

TRG believes that portable navigation devices (like the Garmin Nuvi, at right), including GPS-equipped PDAs and cell phones, will rapidly outstrip more expensive built-in units, with annual sales of 17.8 million units by 2011 in the U.S., vs. 4.4 million factory-installed  navigation systems. Worldwide, the difference is even greater, with 2011 portable navigation device sales forecast at 109.9 million, vs. 20.2 million built-in units.