Ford partners with Flextronics

The automaker is set to depend on the EMS-provider Flextronics to manufacture the company’s second-generation SYNC system. This in turn could threaten the established automotive suppliers and open the market to ODM & EMS companies, the market researcher iSuppli believes. “In a break from tradition, Ford with its MyFord system has chosen to partner with Flextronics, a Singapore-based EMS provider that is not part of the established Tier-1 automotive supplier base,” said Richard Robinson, principal analyst for automotive infotainment at iSuppli. “The EMS reference design approach has been used for years in the manufacturing of consumer devices, including cell phones and Portable Navigation Devices (PNDs), so why not in automotive infotainment?”, he continues. The fact that contract manufacturers only accounted for 5.5% last year of the global automotive electronics business, indicates that opportunities due exists in this area. Richard Robinson believes that “the biggest question now facing the Tier-1 automotive electronics supplier base is: what happens next?” ----- Source: iSuppli