High growth forecasted for China navigation map market

NEW YORK, USA: Reportlinker.com announces that a new market research report is available in its cataloguem the China Navigation Map Market Report, 2008-2009.

Compared to Japan, Europe and USA, Chinese car navigation market was still in its early stage. In 2008, the market penetration rate of car navigation in China was only 4.56 percent, far lower than the 60 percent of Japan, and 20-30 percent of both Europe and USA.

In 2008, car ownership reached at 149 million in China, among which 40 million are private cars, and about 6.8 million cars have installed navigation devices. Also, in 2008, the Chinese car navigation market sharply increased, a total of 3.1 million navigation devices were sold during the year, more than doubled of 2007.

The electronics map market scale is limited, accounting for 10-15 percent in the navigation industry chain. In addition, the electronic map database requires a long construction period, a large investment and high maintenance & updating cost.

The global key electronics map markets of Europe, USA and Japan, are monopolized by TA, Navteq and Zenrin respectively. Especially, Navteq and TA have become the transnational navigation electronics map providers.

Considering the nation security, there is an admittance system regarding the electronics map in china. Up to Mar, 2009, a total of 11 electronics map providers were approved by the State Bureau of Surveying and Mapping, the key providers including NavInfo, AutoNavi, Ritu, Careland, Lingtu, Emapgo and City On Map.

NavInfo and AutoNavi focus on the original market, Ritu, Careland and City On Map focus on the aftermarket and portable navigation device market.