The Brand RTA

We have been in the mobile infotainment business for many years, designing and manufacturing car and hi-fi accessories, multimedia solutions and mobile communications systems.

In the 1980's our main business was creating parts and accessories for well-known car radio manufacturers. Although our emphasis has shifted over the years, the challenges we faced in the early days were just as demanding as those we are presented with today. We started out by producing electrical and mechanical parts and accessories for the car radio industry. These were used to produce standardised products which car dealers could install in vehicles which were not equipped with radios or on-board communications systems. The early 1990's, however, saw the introduction of the factory-fitted radio. These new radios were designed according to manufacturer specifications and were fully integrated into the design of the dashboard and were therefore part of the vehicle. This meant, for example, that you could no longer install a Mercedes radio on a Fiat dashboard.

This development led us to acquire the Italian brand RTA in 1996. RTA was based in Reggio Emilia, near Parma, and specialised in the design and manufacture of high quality speakers with carbon-coated cones for the automotive industry.

Following the acquisition of the RTA brand, we began to reposition ourselves on the market. As ever, we continued to enjoy an excellent relationship with the car radio industry. But, as one of our core principles has always been that you should never compete with a client, we resolved not to sell speakers, amplifiers, radios, navigation systems or any other hardware under the RTA label.

So, instead of hardware, we decided to concentrate on accessories for the car and hi-fi sector and we have never looked back. RTA Mobile Electronics is primarily a service provider. We pride ourselves in supplying all the products required to install the various parts and components quickly and easily. There is a growing demand for electronic components which is a direct result of the increasing use of in-car multimedia products as well as automotive buses such as CAN bus and MOST bus. Modern accessories need to be highly innovative and technologically advanced. Solutions are increasingly sophisticated. The positive outcome of this has been that designers and developers now work very closely with both the sales and marketing team and with dealers in order to satisfy customer requirements. We are proud that we have so far been able to resolve 99.9% of all product requests (no matter how complex!) to the client's full satisfaction.

In 2003 we decided to supply our products exclusively to qualified specialist dealers. In the meantime the specialist trade has successfully acquired the necessary advisory skills and breadth of knowledge for this niche market, as the latest market research figures clearly demonstrate.