The research firm Strategy Analytics predicts that shipments of DVD components for in-vehicle multimedia systems in North America, Europe and Japan will climb from seven million in 2004 to 22 million by 2011.

Joanne Blight, director of the firm’s automotive practice, said the key factors driving automotive DVD growth are the demand for display-based entertainment for passengers, and for high-end multifeatured systems that include navigation, video entertainment and a dashboard display for driver information interface. Nissan, GM and Volkswagen are among the automakers that are beginning to incorporate full-color displays across their model ranges.

According to the market study, "In-vehicle DVD Components Market Forecast 2004-2011," 57% of DVD components were DVD-ROM-based, for navigation only. By 2011, more than 70% of DVD components shipped to the automotive market will have ROM and video capabilities.

"North America leads the market for in-vehicle DVD-based entertainment systems while Japan leads product innovations in display-based, multifeatured systems such as HDD, 3-D navigation and touchscreen interfaces,” said Blight. More than 80% of DVD components shipped in the North American automotive market had video capabilities in 2004, as opposed to only 18% in Japan, where the navigation market is maturing but still very strong. In Europe, more than half of the DVD components remain only DVD-ROM capable.