Blaupunkt GmbH () was a German manufacturer, producing mostly car-audio gear and other

electronic equipment Electronics is a scientific and engineering discipline that studies and applies the principles of physics to design, create, and operate devices that manipulate electrons and other Electric charge, electrically charged particles. It is a subfield ...

. Owned by

Robert Bosch GmbH Robert Bosch GmbH (; ), commonly known as Bosch (styled BOSCH), is a German multinational engineering and technology company headquartered in Gerlingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The company was founded by Robert Bosch in Stuttgart in 188 ...

from 1933 until 1 March 2009, it was sold to Aurelius AG of Germany. It filed for

bankruptcy Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the deb ...

in late 2015 with liquidation proceedings completed in early 2016. The brand, now managed by GIP Development SARL of

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, is licensed for use by various product groups worldwide such as Air fryers.

History

Founded in 1924 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

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 Headphones are a pair of small loudspeaker drivers worn on or around the head over a user's ears. They are electroacoustic transducers, which convert an electrical signal to a corresponding sound. Headphones let a single user listen to an ...

that had passed

quality control Quality control (QC) is a process by which entities review the quality of all factors involved in production. ISO 9000 defines quality control as "a part of quality management focused on fulfilling quality requirements". This approach plac ...

. After

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Blaupunkt moved its headquarters and production to

Hildesheim Hildesheim (; or ; ) is a city in Lower Saxony, in north-central Germany with 101,693 inhabitants. It is in the district of Hildesheim (district), Hildesheim, about southeast of Hanover on the banks of the Innerste River, a small tributary of t ...

. Blaupunkt took over a former

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), simply branded Philips, is a Dutch multinational health technology company that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, its world headquarters have been situated in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarter ...

Grundig Grundig ( , , ) is a Turkish home appliances and consumer electronics brand. It is owned by Arçelik A.Ş., the white goods (major appliance) manufacturer of Turkish conglomerate Koç Holding. Originally a German consumer electronics comp ...

factory in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

to produce

automotive head unit An automotive head unit, sometimes called the infotainment system, is a vehicle audio component providing a unified hardware interface for the system, including screens, buttons and system controls for numerous integrated information and entert ...

s. It is still owned and operated by Bosch, used exclusively to make OEM units for car manufacturers and 24V (e.g., Coach) AV equipment. Later, factories were set up in

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

(speakers) and

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

(speakers and electronics). In 1949, Blaupunkt advertised the first FM-capable car radio. By the 1960 and 1970s, Blaupunkt had become one of the leading German manufacturers of car radios and car audio equipment. In 1983, it began selling an in-dash

CD player A CD player is an electronic device that plays audio compact discs, which are a digital audio, digital optical disc data storage format. CD players were first sold to consumers in 1982. CDs typically contain recordings of audio material such a ...

. After the 2011 take-over, Blaupunkt became a managed brand name, with all production outsourced to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

Products

Blaupunkt was involved in developing the

Autofahrer-Rundfunk-Informationssystem Autofahrer-Rundfunk-Informationssystem (ARI, German for: Automotive-Driver's-Broadcasting-Information) was a system for indicating the presence of traffic information in FM broadcasts used by the German ARD network of FM radio stations from 1974 ...

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 The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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 terminology, this can be translated as "An RDS CD player capable of controlling a Multichanger, rated at 4×30 W RMS (4 × 30 = 120) from the 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 An audiophile (from + ) is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. The audiophile seeks to achieve high sound quality in the audio reproduction of recorded music, typically in a quiet listening space in a room with ...

end of the market.

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. A subsidiary of the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. The origins of the compa ...

Volkswagen Volkswagen (VW; )English: , . is a German automotive industry, automobile manufacturer based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Established in 1937 by German Labour Front, The German Labour Front, it was revitalized into the global brand it ...

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

Proton A proton is a stable subatomic particle, symbol , Hydron (chemistry), H+, or 1H+ with a positive electric charge of +1 ''e'' (elementary charge). Its mass is slightly less than the mass of a neutron and approximately times the mass of an e ...

Vauxhall Vauxhall ( , ) is an area of South London, within the London Borough of Lambeth. Named after a medieval manor called Fox Hall, it became well known for the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens. From the Victorian period until the mid-20th century, Va ...

Pontiac Pontiac most often refers to: * Pontiac (Odawa leader) ( – 1769), Native American war chief *Pontiac (automobile), a former General Motors brand Pontiac may also refer to: Places and jurisdictions Canada * Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apo ...

Holden Holden, formerly known as General Motors-Holden, was an Australian subsidiary company of General Motors. Founded in Adelaide, it was an automobile manufacturer, importer, and exporter that sold cars under its own marque in Australia. It was ...

and

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

all fit Blaupunkt (now simply Bosch) products into their cars, often branded with the car manufacturer's mark (e.g., The VW Gamma, Audi Symphony or BMW Business CD lines), with

Fiat Fiat Automobiles S.p.A., commonly known as simply Fiat ( , ; ), is an Italian automobile manufacturer. It became a part of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles in 2014 and, in 2021, became a subsidiary of Stellantis through its Italian division, Stellant ...

using them, occasionally unbranded but generally unmodified. Some later

Holden Astra The Holden Astra is a small car formerly marketed by Holden. The first couple of generations of Astra were made only for Australia, and was a derivative of the locally produced Nissan Pulsar. With the Button car plan coming into effect, it was r ...

models are fitted with Blaupunkt systems (with others being produced by

Delphi Automotive Aptiv PLC is an Irish- American automotive technology supplier with headquarters in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Aptiv grew out of the now-defunct American company, Delphi Automotive Systems, which itself was formerly a component of General Moto ...

). 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. The Blaupunkt branding is no longer used, even on 'hidden' stickers.

Rockford Fosgate alliance

On 12 July 2012, Blaupunkt signed an agreement with

Rockford Fosgate Rockford or Rockfords may refer to: Places United States * Rockford, Alabama, a town * Rockford, Idaho, a census-designated place * Rockford, Illinois, a city, the largest municipality of this name * Rockford metropolitan area, Illinois, a United ...

granting the Rockford Corporation exclusive distribution rights for the company's car multimedia and

range for the North American market. Rockford Fosgate sold Blaupunkt products, including car radios, navigation, amplifiers, loudspeakers, rear seat entertainment, connectivity, and electronics for the OEM market through distributors.

Gallery

Btx-Museum 19 Blaupunkt Btx-Decoder DC 36 01 (cropped).jpg, BTX Decoder DC 36 Blaupunkt CR-4500-8850.jpg, VHS-C

camcorder A camcorder is a self-contained portable electronic device with video and recording as its primary function. It is typically equipped with an articulating screen mounted on the left side, a belt to facilitate holding on the right side, hot-sw ...

CR 4500 Blaupunkt Hamburg MP57 profile.jpeg, Hamburg MP57

head unit An automotive head unit, sometimes called the infotainment system, is a vehicle audio component providing a unified hardware interface for the system, including screens, buttons and system controls for numerous integrated information and enter ...

Blaupunkt PA2150 T-Amp top profile.jpeg, PA2150

Class T amplifier Class T was a registered trademark for a class-D amplifier, switching (class-D) audio amplifier, used for Tripath's amplifier technologies (patent filed on Jun 20, 1996). Similar designs have now been widely adopted by different manufacturers. A ...

Blaupunkt-Stockholm-2.jpg, Blaupunkt-Stockholm Radio (1963) BlaupunktRadio1954.jpg, Blaupunkt Radio (1954) Blaupunkt Berlin IQR 88.jpg, Blaupunkt Berlin Radio IQR 88 Blaupunkt Receiver.jpg, Blaupunkt Radio Receiver FORD Taunus 17M P2(TL) deLuxe Two door 1958 Radio Blaupunkt Köln.jpg, Radio Blaupunkt Köln (1958) BP74-Servicemenu-2008-05-31-03.jpg, Blaupunkt Bremen MP74 Val 202 head unit IMG 0815.jpg, Blaupunkt Buenos Aires 200 head unit (car radio) BMW E46 Business CD - Blaupunkt.png, Front panel of the BMW E46 Business CD radio made by Blaupunkt

References

Sources

Blaupunkt company profile

Bosch BLAUPUNKT HISTORY

TV 1950

Radio 1963

Radio 1938

External links

Blaupunkt

Blaupunktcar
{{Automotive industry in Germany German brands Audio equipment manufacturers of Germany Loudspeaker manufacturers In-car entertainment Bosch (company) Economy of Hildesheim Companies based in Lower Saxony Electronics companies established in 1923 1923 establishments in Germany Radio manufacturers