C Talk | HARMAN International Automotive Division Management：HARMAN Drives Transformation for Automotive Industry by Offering Consumer Experiences, Boosting Innovation

Amid rapid technological advancements, cross-border collaborations are increasingly leading to disruptive innovations. As a leader in the audio industry and a pioneer in the global digital cockpit market, HARMAN is at the forefront of these developments, continually pushing for breakthroughs across new domains. The company has proactively advocated for "Consumer Experiences. Automotive Grade" as its value proposition, dedicating efforts to offer end-users an in-cabin experience comparable to smartphones and other consumer electronics.

"We are putting the 'Consumer Experiences' focus in the front as our top priority and core pursuit," stated Christian Sobottka, President of HARMAN Automotive, in a recent interview with Gasgoo Auto.

This value proposition is evident from HARMAN's showcase of innovative technologies and solutions at the Auto China 2024. The company showcased its cutting-edge Road-Ready series and car audio technologies, drawing significant attention. "We are committed to using AI technology to more accurately analyze and understand the surroundings, as well as the feelings of drivers and passengers, thus building a more intelligent and efficient in-cabin closed-loop system. Furthermore, we have delved into spatial audio technology, significantly enhancing the augmented reality experience for users," explained Christian, highlighting HARMAN's consumer-centric approach in technological innovation.

While focusing on "Consumer Experiences," HARMAN also respects the unique requirements of automotive-grade products, making "Automotive Grade" an indispensable part of its value proposition. Christian noted that automotive-grade products must operate reliably in various complex environments and have a long lifespan, and these are factors HARMAN considers essential in product design and development.

HARMAN's unique value proposition and its confident implementation are partly bolstered by Samsung's support. Since Samsung acquired HARMAN in 2017, its substantial technological support and market resources speed up HARMAN integrate consumer electronics technology into the automotive industry. This successful strategic alignment has facilitated deep cooperation between the two companies in technology innovation, with several achievements already reaching the market. For instance, HARMAN Ready Display solutions powered by Samsung Neo QLED technology meet automotive-grade standards while offering better display quality than TFT-LCD's and lower price than OLED screen's.

Moreover, HARMAN's sustained leadership in the connected car and digital cockpit segment owes much to its emphasis on talent development and corporate culture.

"I believe that a talented team and a superior corporate culture is key to keep competitiveness, which makes us be capable of understanding the diverse requirements of consumers across different age groups and regions, allowing us to precisely capture market trends. In China, we have over a thousand excellent engineers and a stable workforce of between 3,400 and 3,700 employees." Christian candidly shared.

For HARMAN, developing a robust company culture is equally crucial to its success. "We encourage our staff to actively try new things and advocate for proactive decision-making rather than passive waiting. We continually optimize our management structure to pursue efficient and agile decision-making processes."

Aware of the fierce competition, HARMAN continually explores more efficient work models to keep delivering more advanced and innovative technologies and experiences to its customers and consumers.

As Mr. Liu Yuzhan, Senior Vice President of Customer Group Asia Pacific of HARMAN Automotive, explained, to ensure that the consumer electronics experience seamlessly integrates into digital cockpit, HARMAN has built a robust toolchain. This toolchain not only has foundational software built in but also integrate nearly all popular ecosystems to ensure system comprehensiveness and compatibility. Using this toolchain, HARMAN could flexibly tune, try and adapt the user experience to the best use case, and avoid multiple redevelopment of the whole software to improve efficiency.

Under the fierce competition in automotive industry today, HARMAN is maintaining a calm mindset. In Christian's view, the needs of Chinese consumers are fundamentally no different from those of other countries. Rather, the intense competition in China can strengthen the organization, allowing learnings gained here to be quickly applied to other markets. “The company that can adapt to and meet the needs of the Chinese market more quickly will have a competitive advantage global wide." he said.

Mr. Liu Yuzhan added that HARMAN does not seek to win the market through price competition but aims to leverage its technological strengths and innovative capabilities to provide end users with values beyond price alone. "We are confident that this value proposition will be recognized by our OEM partners, as we have the same goal to meet the end users with the best products and services."

Additionally, Mr. Christian Sobottka and Mr. Liu Yuzhan also discussed the similarities and differences between the consumer electronics and automotive industry, the innovation goals and R&D strategies of HARMAN Automotive division, mutual empowerment among partners, and the application of artificial intelligence in the automotive industry, among other topics. For more detailed content, please see the interview video.