I keep hearing and reading about these so called ultra successful brands that everyone shoud buy if they want to upgrade the audio system of their cars.

Well, here is an advice from people in industry. insiders if you want. these companies are doing bad, real bad. so steer clear from their products. if they fail: you'll be f***** = no warranty, no replacement, no service.

globally they are going down:

Kicker: loosing territory all over Europe
Focal: main distributor closed and went to sell VIBE audio (British brand, see new post from me some time soon)
Alpine is down,
Pioneer in terrible sitaution.
Fusion was kicked out some Europen countries last year and replaced by EDGE and FLI (from the makers of VIBE)
JBL is the same (a big British company recruited senior JBL employees from UK as the US based company pull support for European deployment because the sistuation is bad for them in the USA. They have made their business 75% smaller in USA – moved from 5 offices to just one)
Magnat: main distributor in Italy dropped them and took EDGE (UK brand)

if you know people who are selling this: warn them about this or tell them to contact me. i'll be happy to assist.

waiting for you comments peeps!

but there is a pioneer shop inside shoprite shopping mall in Lagos and they are doing fine

i'm not saying right now this immediate moment they have issues in Naija. it's very posible that individual shops are still doing well and that is usually because the owners are good with their clietns.
but the companies itself aren't great at the moment and are globally suffering. when the company suffering, they'll fail to support their clients.
so let's say pioneer has it's global quaters and they have trouble.
from their global quaters they supply to an importer in Lagos.
that importer holds stock and sells to dealers in Nigeria.
those dealers have shops all over the place.
you buy from the shop.

if there is a problem with global office, the first to feel it is the importer. but he maybe has some stock, so no one notices a thing. the next one is the dealer. but he also may have some stock. the next one is you who goes to shop. if the dealer don't get the support from importer: your are in will not get what you came for. if the importer don't get support from the global office: dealer is in trouble (and then you).

so you see, it's not gonna fall in 1 day. but you don't buy a car for 1 day and if you invest a lot of $$ in making it sound good: you want it to last. that is why i'm warning you about issues that are going on. it's just a warning. feel free to do what you do, but if in half a year or one year or maybe even a couple of years, your system breaks down and no one can help you: don't say i didn't warn you ! don't be scared to try new growing brands that are coming to the market and are doing well.

@poster
You are not coherent and all you are saying is gibberish.
if you want to promote a new product(s), go ahead and do it but not at the detriment of others.

bababuff:

@poster
if you want to promote a new product(s), go ahead and do it but not at the detriment of others.

Second that!!

@ bababuff

i'm well familiar with the industry in europe and usa and speak after talking to many dealers who came running. I'm not selling anything in this post, but if you feel like buying, maybe i can help

anyway, like i said, this is for info and long term. they won't go bust in the next day and who knows how nigerian market will recover from head offices' failure.

here is some more info:

Kicker: smaller territories either doing very well (=dealer is good and knows his market) like in Malta or close down like in Cyprus. big territories are stugling to compete, mainly with GroundZero and VIBE or FLI as competitors
Focal: Germany is European playground for car audio. German Focal GmbH is now re-named and fully operating as VIBE GmbH. Focal out.
Alpine is down, i don't have the details, but i'v heard from one of their guys that sales have been dropping for month
Pioneer: same as alpine
Fusion: barely even present in UK after about a year ago EDGE replaced it in most stores/dealers. they've put out a press releas about how it's time to return to home land (new zealand), but we all know its because they were making loss everywhere else.
JBL: has let go of senior employees due to cuts (due to losses), recruited by VIBE in UK and Metra Electronics in USA (who are the biggest car audio players in their respective countries)
Magnat: main distributor in Italy (Audio X Plus, major player) dropped them and took EDGE

@ bababuff

forgot to say

peace bro

considering to add Infinity to the list.
heard some roumours before, but just had a phonecall to confirm.
they've been dropped by the biggest importer in South Africa, bad news when big guys don't want to sell your brand anymore.
Not sure bout other countries yet.

@ bababuff

i'm well familiar with the industry in europe and usa and speak after talking to many dealers who came running. I'm not selling anything in this post, but if you feel like buying, maybe i can help Wink

anyway, like i said, this is for info and long term. they won't go bust in the next day and who knows how nigerian market will recover from head offices' failure.

@blanka-w
This is a common thing most industry. Companies buy up each other or form alliances to grow their market share. What you are talking about to me is more like product upgrades. If I buy a car stereo today, and I see a better model tomorrow, I can decide to upgrade to the new one.

Most of these products now come with industry standard connectors, so its more like plug and play. Its just like buying a brand new or old car, and stripping out the factory fitted stereo to install a "Solid Gbedu" system with DVD/MP3/IPOD  with video player and some "baddest" speakers. Like I did on my old 1996 4Runner Jeep.

Thank God for compatibility and ability to upgrade. The next thing is to find the cash $$$$. 

Ma Salam (Peace)