NEW YORK -- February 26, 2008: Since the majority of the company's new subscriber growth is coming from new car buyers, it should come as little shock that Sirius CEO Mel Karmazin announced this morning that the satcaster is developing plans with its automaker partners on programs that will allow buyers of certified pre-owned automobiles to install Sirius in their vehicles.
"We will be rolling out and making more announcements shortly about all of the initiatives that we have, both in the areas of certified pre-owned as well as in the area of just used car sales," Karmazin said.
The company's desire to find ways to add more customers via the automotive channel is likely driven by the fact that OEM growth outpaced retail last year by a margin of 87% versus 15%. Still, Karmazin believes there is plenty of growth to be found in the retail channel.
"In addition to OEM ramping up 15.5 million to 16 million new cars being sold -- a good chunk with satellite radio in them -- there is going to be this aftermarket where people are going to want to continue to acquire [satellite radio]" he said. "We see no reason why the aftermarket won't continue to play an imp part in our business model. As OEM continues to increase and as we get more subscribers who are experiencing Sirius for the first time in their car, it seems natural that they're going to want to have a radio available to them in a portable mode or in their other car. So fundamentally we see no reason why the aftermarket shouldn't continue to play a very important part in our business."
