Blaupunkt GmbH () was a German manufacturer of mostly car audio equipment. It was owned by

Robert Bosch GmbH Robert Bosch GmbH (; ), commonly known as Bosch and stylized as BOSCH, is a German multinational engineering and technology company headquartered in Gerlingen, Germany. The company was founded by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart in 1886. Bosch is 9 ...

from 1933 until 1 March 2009, when it was sold to Aurelius AG of Germany. It filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor ...

in late 2015 with liquidation proceedings completed in early 2016. The brand is now managed by GIP Development SARL of Luxembourg and is used on various product groups worldwide.

History

Founded in 1924 in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

as "Ideal," the company was acquired by Robert Bosch AG in 1933. In 1938 it changed its name to "Blaupunkt", German for "blue point" or "blue dot", after the blue dot painted onto its

headphones Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound. Headphones let a single user listen to an au ...

that had passed

quality control Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach places ...

. After the

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Blaupunkt moved its headquarters and production to

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; nds, Hilmessen, Hilmssen; la, Hildesia) is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of the Lei ...

. Blaupunkt took over a former

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

Grundig Grundig (; ) is a German consumer electronics manufacturer owned by the Turkish Arçelik A.Ş., the white goods (major appliance) manufacturer of Turkish conglomerate Koç Holding. The company made domestic appliances and personal-care prod ...

factory in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

to produce automotive head units. It is still owned and operated by Bosch, used exclusively to produce

OEM An original equipment manufacturer (OEM) is generally perceived as a company that produces non-aftermarket parts and equipment that may be marketed by another manufacturer. It is a common industry term recognized and used by many professional or ...

units for car manufacturers and 24V (e.g. Coach) AV equipment. Later, factories were set up in

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

(speakers) and

Malaysia Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...

(speakers and electronics). In 1949, Blaupunkt advertised the first FM-capable car radio. By the 1960 and 1970s, Blaupunkt had become one of the leading German manufacturers of car radios and car audio equipment. In 1983, it began selling an in-dash

CD player A CD player is an electronic device that plays audio compact discs, which are a digital optical disc data storage format. CD players were first sold to consumers in 1982. CDs typically contain recordings of audio material such as music or aud ...

. After the 2011 take-over, Blaupunkt became a managed brand name with all production outsourced to China.

Products

Blaupunkt was involved in the development of the

Autofahrer-Rundfunk-Informationssystem Autofahrer-Rundfunk-Informationssystem (ARI, German language, German for: Automotive-Driver's-Broadcasting-Information) was a system for indicating the presence of traffic information in FM broadcasting, FM broadcasts used by the Germany, German ARD ...

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

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, but had only a few radio stations per major city involved. For many years, Blaupunkt car audio equipment models often carried the name of a city somewhere in the world, e.g. "London RDM126". In Blaupunkt model nomenclature, this can be translated as "An RDS CD player capable of controlling a Multichanger, rated at 4×30 W RMS (4 × 30 = 120) from model year 1996". High-end models typically had German place names. Blaupunkt also used the brand "Velocity" to sell products aimed at the top,

audiophile An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a piece of recorded music or a live musical performance, typically inside closed headphones, In-ear monitors, open ...

end of the market.

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German Automotive industry, motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a ...

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see #Pronunciation, below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany ...

, Mercedes,

Proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' elementary charge. Its mass is slightly less than that of a neutron and 1,836 times the mass of an electron (the proton–electron mass ...

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( ) is a district in South West London, part of the London Borough of Lambeth, England. Vauxhall was part of Surrey until 1889 when the County of London was created. Named after a medieval manor, "Fox Hall", it became well known for ...

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. It was an Australian automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter which sold cars under its own marque in Australia. In its last thre ...

and BMW all fit Blaupunkt (now simply Bosch) products into their cars, often branded with the car manufacturer's own mark (e.g. The VW Gamma, Audi Symphony or BMW Business CD lines), with

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A. (, , ; originally FIAT, it, Fabbrica Italiana Automobili di Torino, lit=Italian Automobiles Factory of Turin) is an Italian automobile manufacturer, formerly part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, and since 2021 a subsidiary ...

using them, occasionally unbranded but generally unmodified. Some later

Holden Astra The Holden Astra is a small car formerly marketed by Holden. The first couple of generations of Astra were made only for Australia, and was a derivative of the locally produced Nissan Pulsar. With the Button car plan coming into effect, it was ...

models are fitted with Blaupunkt systems (with others being produced by

Delphi Automotive Aptiv PLC is an Irish-American automotive technology supplier with headquarters in Dublin. Aptiv grew out of the now-defunct American company, Delphi Automotive Systems, which itself was formerly a component of General Motors. History The com ...

). Blaupunkt also specialised in coach installations, selling TVs, multiple-speaker setups and PA equipment to that industry. That part of the business has remained with Robert Bosch Car Multimedia GmbH, a 100% subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH, and the Blaupunkt branding is no longer used, even on 'hidden' stickers.

Rockford Fosgate alliance

On 12 July 2012, Blaupunkt signed an agreement with Rockford Fosgate granting the Rockford Corporation exclusive distribution rights for the company's car multimedia and

range for the North American market. Rockford Fosgate sold Blaupunkt products including car radios, navigation, amplifiers, loudspeakers, rear seat entertainment, and connectivity, as well as electronics for the OEM market through distributors.

Gallery

Btx-Museum 19 Blaupunkt Btx-Decoder DC 36 01 (cropped).jpg, BTX Decoder DC 36 Blaupunkt CR-4500-8850.jpg, VHS-C

camcorder A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-swa ...

CR 4500 Blaupunkt Hamburg MP57 profile.jpeg, Hamburg MP57

head unit An automotive head unit, sometimes called the infotainment system, is a component providing a unified hardware interface for the system, including screens, buttons and system controls for numerous integrated information and entertainment func ...

Blaupunkt PA2150 T-Amp top profile.jpeg, PA2150 Class T amplifier Blaupunkt-Stockholm-2.jpg, Blaupunkt-Stockholm Radio (1963) BlaupunktRadio1954.jpg, Blaupunkt Radio (1954) Blaupunkt Berlin IQR 88.jpg, Blaupunkt Berlin Radio IQR 88 Blaupunkt Receiver.jpg, Blaupunkt Radio Receiver FORD Taunus 17M P2(TL) deLuxe Two door 1958 Radio Blaupunkt Köln.jpg, Radio Blaupunkt Köln (1958) BP74-Servicemenu-2008-05-31-03.jpg, Blaupunkt Bremen MP74 Val 202 head unit IMG 0815.jpg, Blaupunkt Buenos Aires 200 head unit (car radio) BMW E46 Business CD - Blaupunkt.png, Front panel of the BMW E46 Business CD radio made by Blaupunkt

References

Sources

Blaupunkt company profileBosch BLAUPUNKT HISTORYTV 1950Radio 1963Radio 1938

External links

Blaupunkt
{{Automotive industry in Germany German brands Audio equipment manufacturers of Germany Loudspeaker manufacturers In-car entertainment Robert Bosch GmbH Economy of Hildesheim Companies based in Lower Saxony Electronics companies established in 1923 1923 establishments in Germany Radio manufacturers