Autoblog

IBOCcrock @ Nov 27th 2007 9:16PM

This isn't exactly a breakthrough for Ibiquity. Ford bought Volvo's car division in 1998 (the truck, bus and construction equipment divisions are still under Swedish ownership). Remember that Ford is already an Ibiquity licensee (as well as a stakeholder), so you could think of this as no different from having "HD" as an option in a Mercury or a Lincoln.

And one web site reports that Ford is considering selling its Volvo auto division to BMW, which is already an Ibiquity licensee, too. Yep, it's "another brand." A financially troubled brand. One that's being shopped to help stop the bleeding at Ford, along with Jaguar, Aston-Martin, et al. One with a negligible world market share.

Now, if GM, Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Hyundai, or Daimler-Chrysler announce HD as a standard feature on factory audio systems, you'll have a real story. What happens when consumers found out that HD Radio just doesn't work:

“Is HD Radio Toast?”

“There are serious issues of coverage. Early adopters who bought HD radios report serious drop-outs, poor coverage, and interference. The engineers of Ibiquity may argue otherwise and defend the system, but the industry has a serious PR problem with the very people we need to get the word out on HD... In other words, everything you can find on the regular FM dial... The word has already gotten out about HD Radio. People who have already bought an HD Radio are telling others of their experience (mostly bad) and no amount of marketing will reverse this.”

http://www.fmqb.com/article.asp?id=487772