Blaupunkt

Blaupunkt GmbH
Company type	electronic equipment manufacturer
Founded	1923
Headquarters	Hildesheim, Germany
Number of employees	8,700 (2007)
Parent	Aurelius AG
Website	www.blaupunkt.com

Blaupunkt^ⓘ GmbH is a German manufacturer of electronics equipment, noted for its home and car audio equipment. It was a 100% subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH until December 18th, 2008 when it was sold to Aurelius AG of Germany for an undisclosed amount.^[1].

History

Founded in 1923 in Berlin as "Ideal", the company changed its name to "Blaupunkt" in 1938, German for "blue point" or "blue dot" after the blue dot painted onto its headphones that had passed quality control. After the Second World War, Blaupunkt moved its headquarters and production to the city of Hildesheim. Today the majority of Blaupunkt products are manufactured overseas, with large manufacturing centers in Tunisia (speakers) and Malaysia (speakers and electronics).

During the 1960 and 1970s, Blaupunkt had become the leading German manufacturer for car radios and car audio equipment.^{[citation needed]}

Products

Blaupunkt was involved in the development of the Autofahrer-Rundfunk-Informationssystem traffic-information system for car radios, and provided this feature on their German-market car radios from the late 1970s. The company attempted to have ARI used in the USA but had only a few radio stations per major city involved.^{[citation needed]}

For many years, Blaupunkt car audio equipment models often carried the name of a city somewhere in the world, eg "London RDM126". In Blaupunkt model nomenclature, this can be translated as "An RDS CD player capable of controlling a Multichanger, rated at 4x30W RMS (4x30 = 120) from model year 1996". High-end models typically had German place names.^{[citation needed]}

Blaupunkt also used the brand "Velocity" to sell products aimed at the top, audiophile end of the market. Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, Mercedes, Vauxhall and BMW all fit Blaupunkt products into their cars, often branded with the car manufacturer's own mark (eg The VW Gamma or Audi Symphony lines), with Fiat using them, occasionally unbranded but generally unmodified. Some later Holden Astra models are fitted with Blaupunkt systems (with others being produced by Delphi). Blaupunkt also specialises in coach installations, selling TVs, multiple-speaker setups and PA equipment to that industry.