Blaupunkt GmbH was a German manufacturer of electronics equipment, noted for its home and car audio equipment. It was a 100% subsidiary of Robert Bosch GmbH from 1933 until 1 March 2009, when its Aftermarket and Accessories branch including the brand name were sold to Aurelius AG of Germany for an undisclosed amount. After a troublesome past and several changes in ownership and reorganizations it filed for bankruptcy in late 2015 with liquidation proceedings completed in early 2016. For the European trading business with the car radios, it was being announced on 15 February 2016 that a sale had failed. The dismissal was pronounced for the remaining 33 employees in Hildesheim. The inventory was sold. Blaupunkt's trademark rights have since been managed by GIP Development SARL of Luxembourg and apply to the distribution of various product groups in 95 countries around the world.
History
Founded in 1923 in Berlin 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 that had passed quality control. In 1944, the company used the work of prisoners of Nazi camps, including Gross-Rosen. 30 to 200 prisoners worked forcibly with soldering of radio casings, numbering of their matrices and winding of capacitors. Just before the evacuation of the camp, the company's machines and tools were taken to the Third Reich. After the Second World War, Blaupunkt moved its headquarters and production to the city of Hildesheim, but with an important factory in Portugal which specialised in producing car radio head units, this factory was formerly under Philips/Grundig ownership, producing the same. More recently, the majority of Blaupunkt products are manufactured overseas, with large manufacturing centers in Tunisia and Malaysia. Since 2011 however, the entire lineup is Chinese sourced. In 1949, Blaupunkt advertised the first FM-capable car radio. By the 1960 and 1970s, Blaupunkt had become one of the leading German manufacturer for car radios and car audio equipment. In 1983, it began selling an in-dash CD player. The 2011 take-over effectively left Blaupunkt as a managed brand name with all production outsourced to China, with virtually no 'Bosch era' products still under production. This actually caused a significant 'gap' in the product lineup as, under Bosch, the former DAB car radio models contained a significant amount of 'original' and proprietary IC's, the rights to which were retained by Bosch following the sale, and thus it was almost 2 years before a car DAB set was again available. The original Blaupunkt factories within the EU, especially Portugal, are now owned and operated by Bosch, used exclusively to produce OEM units for car manufacturers and 24V AV equipment. The 'new' Blaupunkt again entered bankruptcy proceeding in 2015, with its ultimate and complete liquidation in the first quarter of 2016.
Products
Blaupunkt was involved in the development of the Autofahrer-Rundfunk-Informationssystem 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, 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 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 end of the market. Audi, Volkswagen, Porsche, Mercedes, Proton, Vauxhall, Pontiac, Holden and BMW all fit Blaupunkt products into their cars, often branded with the car manufacturer's own mark, with Fiat using them, occasionally unbranded but generally unmodified. Some later Holden Astra models are fitted with Blaupunkt systems. 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.
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 headphones range for the North American market. Rockford Fosgate will begin selling Blaupunkt products beginning in Q3 and early Q4 through distributors, and has begun signing up distributors that will carry car radios, navigation, amplifiers, loudspeakers, rear seat entertainment, and connectivity, as well as electronics for the OEM market.
