2015-06-14 Becker Europa Bodensee Foto Hilarmont-crop

Climate-Control and Becker-Mexico-Cass MB-w123

Becker Indianapolis in BMW-Z1 Techno-Classica 2018 IMG 8976-crop2

Harman Becker Automotive Systems GmbH, commonly known as Becker, is a manufacturer of automotive electronic equipment. It is part of the car division of the American manufacturing company,

Harman International Industries Harman International Industries, commonly known as Harman (stylized in all-uppercase as HARMAN), is an American audio electronics company. Since 2017, the company has been an independent subsidiary of Samsung Electronics. Headquartered in Stam ...

, a subsidiary of South Korean company

Samsung Electronics Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. (, sometimes shortened to SEC and stylized as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean multinational corporation, multinational electronics corporation headquartered in Yeongtong-gu, Suwon, South Korea. It is the pinnacle of ...

History

The present company goes back to the German car radio and navigation systems manufacturer, Becker. This firm was founded in 1949 from a repair workshop in the Baden town of

Pforzheim Pforzheim () is a city of over 125,000 inhabitants in the federal state of Baden-Württemberg, in the southwest of Germany. It is known for its jewelry and watch-making industry, and as such has gained the nickname "Goldstadt" ("Golden City") ...

. Its founder was (died 1983).aerokurier.de 11 August 2016, ''60 Jahre Becker Avionics''
(German), retrieved 2020-10-04. In 1953 the first car radio with automatic search for stations was launched.
(German), retrieved 2020-10-04. In 1955 Becker started manufacturing aircraft radios. In 1987 Boris Becker launched a CD car receiver.historic-radios.info, ''Becker'', retrieved 2020-10-04
(German). In 1995, the US concern, Harman International, took over the firm (apart from the aircraft

avionics Avionics (a blend word, blend of ''aviation'' and ''electronics'') are the Electronics, electronic systems used on aircraft. Avionic systems include communications, Air navigation, navigation, the display and management of multiple systems, ...

division, Becker Flugfunkwerke GmbH (later Becker Avionics, which as of 2016 remained under the control of Roland Becker, the son of the founder)). At the time Becker had 1,300 employees and two plants. The company, with its head office in Karlsbad near

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

and other bases in the USA and Hungary, developed and integrated complete infotainment systems worldwide. Its product range runs from navigation systems, voice control and

human-machine interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine fr ...

s to audio and entertainment technologies. From its earliest days, ''Harman Becker Automotive Systems'' was a supplier to

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to as Mercedes and sometimes as Benz, is a German luxury and commercial vehicle automotive brand established in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a Mercedes-Benz Group subsidiary established in 2019) is headquartere ...

, but also supplies other marques such as

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 ...

Peugeot Peugeot (, , ) is a French brand of automobiles owned by Stellantis. The family business that preceded the current Peugeot companies was founded in 1810, with a steel foundry that soon started making hand tools and kitchen equipment, and the ...

Hyundai Hyundai is a South Korean industrial conglomerate ("chaebol"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Mobis, Korean car parts company ** Hyundai ...

and also Luxury Marques

Ferrari Ferrari S.p.A. (; ) is an Italian luxury sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari (1898–1988) in 1939 from the Alfa Romeo racing division as ''Auto Avio Costruzioni'', the company built its first car in ...

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

, BMW and

MINI The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...

. Worldwide, Harman Becker has 28 bases in Germany, USA, Great Britain, France, Sweden, Hungary, Canada, Mexico, South Africa (to 2008), Japan, South Korea and China. Since 11 January 2010 Harman Becker Automotive Systems has pulled out of the market for mobile navigation. The trademarks Becker Traffic Assist, Becker Traffic Assist Pro etc. were transferred to

United Navigation United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

. Under the latter's roof, the brands Falk and Becker continue to run. Since 2008, as part of the strategy of its parent concern, Harman International, the company's divisions have been increasingly based in

low-wage economies The Penn effect is the economic finding that real income ratios between high and low income countries are systematically exaggerated by gross domestic product (GDP) conversion at market exchange rates. It is associated with what became the Penn Wor ...

, so that the number of employees in its German facilities dropped from 3,800 in 2008 to 2,250 in 2013. The company sites in

Hechingen Hechingen ( Swabian: ''Hächenga'') is a town in central Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated about south of the state capital of Stuttgart and north of Lake Constance and the Swiss border. Geography The town lies at the foot of the ...

, Villingen-Schwenningen, Schaidt and

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

(leading development of navigation software Innovative Systems, sold in 2008 to

Neusoft Neusoft Corporation is a Chinese multinational provider of software engineering services, Information Technology services, product engineering services, IT education and medical equipment headquartered in Shenyang, China. "Neusoft" is an ac ...

China as Neusoft Technology Solutions) were closed down or sold off. In November 2016, it is understood that

acquired Harman for eight billion US dollars. The acquisition was completed on 10 March 2017.

References

External links

Website of the Becker brand
{{Authority control Electronics companies of Germany Auto parts suppliers of Germany Electronics companies established in 1949 Harman International Companies based in Baden-Württemberg Karlsruhe (district) 1949 establishments in Germany