Alpine Electronics
Encyclopedia : A : AL : ALP : Alpine Electronics
Alpine Electronics is traditionally known as an aftermarket Car audio and Navigation Systems manufacturer, famed for their high quality, high price in-car audio units commonly known as headunits. In 2005 Alpine's turnover came 80% from OEM business, mainly to premium vehicle brands like Mercedes Benz, BMW, Honda, Volvo, Jaguar and Land Rover. It is a subsidiary of Alps Electric Co. and its registered head office is in Tokyo, Japan. However its main offices, or the real headquarters, are in Iwaki-City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan.
Originally known as Alps-Motorola, it became Alpine in 1978 when Alps bought out Motorola's share of the company.
Alpine offer a wide range of items, including amplifiers, speakers, subwoofers and signal processing equipment.
Corporate Vision
In 2005, Alpine changed its Corporate Message from "Discover the Future of Mobile Media" to "Driving Mobile Media Solutions". According to Alpine, this is to reflect the company's "determination to be a Mobile Media Solution Company that creates Visionary Value".
Company Logo
The five stripes in the Alpine logo were added in the 90's. Originally light blue to contrast with the letters which were in dark blue, they were later changed to one colour. The stripes are each said to stand for different aspects of Alpine's philosophyhttp://www.alpine.com/e/corporate/five/images/spic_stripes.gif which are:
- Engineering Excellence
- Manufacturing Excellence
- Marketing Excellence
- Service Excellence
- Partner Excellence
Notable Products and Technologies
- 1981 world's first automotive navigation system.
- 1982 world's first in-car computerized equalizer
- 1990 7909 CD Tuner
- 1991 5700 DAT headunit
- 1993 7982 world's first in-dash 3-CD Changer
- 1994 world's first speaker utilising DDDrive Technology
- 1998 world's smallest CD Auto Changer
- 2001 world's first swivel in-dash monitor.
- 2004 world's first Dolby Digital EX aftermarket in-car product [www.dolby.com]
- 2004 world's first company to manufacture a component which can interact with an ipod.
At the Alpine Museum in Japan there is a Alpine 7307 radio/tape recorder (circa 1981) shot by an American (using a .45-caliber pistol at a distance of 4 feet). The owner, frustrated with the performance of the product, shot the unit and returned it to Alpine. This gesture brought home to Alpine the importance of product quality, and as a result they spent $25 million on a Testing and Evaluation Centre in Iwaki-city, Japan.
Awards
Alpine F#1 Status - Innovations 2001-2002 (USA), Car HiFi Grand Prix (France), Good Design Award (Japan), Annual In Car Awards 2002 (UK), European Car Audio of the Year 2001-2002.
OEM Navigation USA - the JD Power customer Award 2002-2005.
The 1986 Buick Grand National, modified by SpeakerWorks in Orange, California, is believed to be the only vehicle ever to retire undefeated from the pro division of the national sound-off circuit. The black Buick won the Alpine Car Audio Nationals II Pro Unlimited (751 watts and up) division in 1988, and IASCA's Pro unlimited title in 1989, 1990, and 1991 before being retired by its owner, Richard Clark. Its sound system is comprised of 5 x Alpine 3545 Amplifiers and the 7909 headunit.
Trivia
Between the early 1980s until the end of the 1990s, as well as supplying car audio to Lamborghini, Alpine used their top of the range sports model (Countach, later superceeded by Diablo) as a mascot car which featured in every product brochure and trade and public shows.Alpine UK had a Yellow Lamborghini Diablo SV with the registration L666LAM which was often seen at shows and events.
References
External links
- [Alpine Electronics Global Website]
- [Alpine Electronics of America, Inc.]
- [Alpine Electronics of Europe, Inc.]
- [Alpine Electronics of Japan, Inc.]
- [Alpine Electronics of China, Inc.]
- [Alpine Electronics of Australia, Inc.]
- [Alpine Electronics F#1 Status Special Site]
- [Alpine Sound is a special site discussing Partners, Technology & Alpine's commitment to being at the forefront of in-car entertainment development.]
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.