Mio Technology, a leading worldwide vendor of portable GPS navigation devices, expects to sell only 70,000 portable GPS navigation devices next year, up 40% from 2008, when the producer estimated 50,000 units sold, due to the downslide of the car industry.

“For 2009, we expect to sell 70,000 units, up 40% in terms of volume, and 10% in terms of turnover, compared to previous year. We expect to see the full effects of the crisis next year, and the market will slowdown its growth pace due to the car industry, that registered a major pullback. Initially, we expected a 200% growth for 2009, however this is impossible in the current shaky economic conditions”, said Laura Samson, country manager at Mio Technology Romania.

Although Mio officials estimated a three-fold growth of the Romanian navigation devices earlier this year, now the likely maximum growth is 50%.

According to Mio’s expectations, nearly 100,000 GPS devices will be sold in 2008, the market registering a lower growth pace than the anticipated one. The penetration rate of GPS devices is 3% compared to 50% in the Western Europe countries.

“We expect to end this year with 50% market share and 50,000 GPS devices sold in Romania, up by 38% from a year ago. Although our initial plans have been affected by the financial crisis, GPS market in Romania registering a higher growth level than earlier forecasts, Mio ranks first in terms of sales, and we plan to keep our leading position”, said Laura Samson, country manager at Mio Technology Romania.

Translated by Camelia Oancea