These include cruise control using radar and sensors, keyless entry systems, air conditioning, cabin filters, fuel filters, entertainment systems, seat comfort features, electronic braking systems and automatic transmissions. Well, most likely the cost will be passed on to the consumer. According to the study, future growth in air conditioning is definite. Although air conditioning is fairly standard in America and Japan, it is still often considered a luxury item in Europe.
Suppliers see a great potential for growth here in the early years of the century.
Another growth area is navigation units. This will climb to 2.4 million by 2004. In the U.S. in-car navigation systems have not seen as much growth, but the EIU states it has the potential to reach 1 million units by 2005, whereas only 100,000 systems were sold in 1999. Another growth area will be automatic transmissions. The EIU forecasts that by 2005 automatic transmissions in passenger cars will rise to 2.3 million per year compared to 19.3 million manual transmissions.