I’ve had a pretty negative opinion of Audiovox’s products since high school when I witnessed a friend jam a piece of cardboard into his car’s Audiovox tape deck to get the player to work. It’s a silly thing I know, but still, it’s there. Another company I have similar feelings about is RCA, a once-great brand reduced to being slapped on seemingly bargain equipment.
So I really don’t know how to feel about Audiovox picking up Thomson’s consumer electronics accessory business along with rights to the RCA brand for them. The purchase price was $50 million, plus a five-year fee related to the RCA brand. Regardless of my prejudices, Audiovox is a big company that’s been buying up several smaller companies including Jensen, Advent, Terk, Acoustic Research and Road Gear. Adding a CE accessory brand to that mix is certainly a good move, but it’s going to take a lot more than simply buying a company to restore the image of RCA being a top name in electronics in my mind.
Audiovox [company site]