Industry Insights
A car DVR is a device which continuously records incidents outside a car’s interior windscreen. Need for generating video evidence for avoiding false accusations and high insurance claims in the wake of increasing accidents, car thefts, and vandalism in the U.S. is expected to drive market growth. Privacy invasion concerns, particularly in the U.S., are expected to challenge the car DVR market growth. Users are apprehensive about the installment of car DVRs owing to their potential vulnerability which can be exposed by trained hackers, thereby compromising security. In 2013, the market was valued at over USD 120 million, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of over 12% over the forecast period.
The market is characterized by the presence of a large number of manufacturers from China, South Korea, and Japan. In addition, a number of unknown manufacturers sell inferior quality cameras which are priced considerably lower than the ones sold by reputed manufacturers. These manufacturers distribute their products through e-commerce portals such as eBay and Amazon. Key manufacturers in the car DVR market include Cobra Electronics Corporation, Fine Digital Inc., Garmin, Itronics, Pittasoft, and Qrontech Co., Ltd. Other manufacturers include Honeywell, ABEO Co. Ltd, and Panasonic.
Product Insights
The car DVR market has been bifurcated into two product segments, namely single-channel and dual-channel DVRs. Single-channel DVRs just record the view of the road through the windshield, whereas their dual-channel counterparts are capable of recording incidents through the rear window as well. Usually, the rear camera resolution is limited to 2 Mega Pixels (MP), while that of the front camera generally varies from 2 MP to 5 MP.
Single channel car DVRs contributed nearly 70% to the overall market revenue in 2013. Marketing initiatives by North American car DVR manufacturers are anticipated to increase over the next two years, which may result in preference towards one-time installation with additional functionality, consequently boosting the dual-channel car DVR market.
Leading manufacturers have equipped their DVRs with numerous technologies such as Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS), accelerometers, GPS, and Wi-Fi connectivity in order to expand utility.
Regional Insights
The North American car DVR market has enormous growth potential over the forecast period. In 2013, the U.S. contributed to more than 90% of the overall market revenue. The Canadian market is projected to grow at a healthy CAGR from 2012 to 2016.
Dashcams used in police patrol constituted the major end-use market in the U.S., which can be attributed to financial aid provided to state police and highway patrol agencies for installing DVR systems. The rate of adoption in privately-owned cars is still subdued owing to lack of awareness and privacy concerns.
