Clarion (company)
| Clarion
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|---|---|
 |
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| legal form | Kabushiki kaisha (joint stock company) |
| ISIN | JP3269200006 |
| founding | December, 1940 |
| Seat |
Saitama , Japan
|
| management | Tatsuhiko Izumi, President |
| Number of employees | 9,128 (March, 2010) |
| sales | 1.45 billion euros ( 2010 ) |
| Branch | Entertainment electronics ( car hi-fi ) |
| Website | www.clarion.com |
Clarion KK ( Japanese ク ラ リ オ ン 株式会社 , Kurarion Kabushiki kaisha , English Clarion Co. Ltd. ) is an international manufacturer of entertainment electronics in the car hi-fi sector.
The company has offices in the US and Europe . The headquarters of the group is in Hakusan in the Tokyo district of Bunkyō , the head office and the technology center in Chūō-ku , Saitama . One of the European subsidiaries , Clarion Europa GmbH, is based in Mörfelden-Walldorf . The main product groups are car radios , navigation systems , cameras (reversing and night vision cameras) and related components.
history
The company was founded in December 1940 as Hakusan Musen Denki KK ( 白山 無線電 機 株式会社 , German "Hakusan wireless electrics AG") in Bunkyō , Tokyo and initially produced battery-operated radios for the household. In 1947 the brand name Clarion (derived from a wind instrument from ancient Greece) was introduced and Japan's first car radio was produced in February 1951. In 1959, Clarion developed the world's first fully transistorized car radio. Japan's first stereo radio for cars was developed in 1959. In December 1970 the name was changed to the current company name Clarion. The first car radio component systems are introduced in 1978. The world's first graphic equalizer booster (EQB) was developed in the same year. 1980 saw the development of the world's first radio for motorcycles. Europe's first multimedia station for in-car entertainment (VRX8370R) was developed in 1997. The first computer-based car radio (Clarion Auto PC) was mainly used in vehicles of the PSA Group from 1998. The world's first car radio with an integrated Dolby Pro Logic II decoder (DXZ928R) followed in 2002. In the same year, the warranty exchange system for car radios was introduced. In October 2018, Faurecia announced that Clarion would be fully acquired and integrated into the new Faurecia Clarion Electronic Systems division. The headquarters will be in Tokyo. The takeover took place on March 28, 2019 at a purchase price of around 1.1 billion euros.
Key figures
The group employs over 10,000 people worldwide. Sales amounted to over 1.5 billion in 2006 $ .
