Make Getting There More Than Half the Fun
(ARA) - Now that classes have let out, summer vacation is officially underway for families across the United States. According to the Travel Industry Association (TIA) of America, millions of us will pass the time on a road trip.

TIA’s Summer 2004 Forecast is predicting that Americans will take more than 334 million person-trips between June and August of 2004. A person-trip is one person traveling 50 or more miles, one-way, away from home.

Card games, the radio, cassettes and CDs used to be the best tools to keep the kids -- and other back-seat passengers -- entertained on those long road trips; but this summer, a new “tool” is showing up in a lot of family cars: mobile DVD-video systems that turn your vehicle into a moving movie theater.

“Until recently, mobile DVD-systems were fixed in the ceiling or the console, and we are pleased to be the first to offer a portable 10.2 inch screen after-market system for just about any car,” says Jonathan Weisberg, of Visteon Corporation, a supplier of consumer-driven technology solutions to automobile manufacturers.

“Through independent research and focus groups, we learned that people -- travelers in particular -- want the luxury of flexibility so we gave it to them,” says Greg Gyllstrom, Visteon Corporation’s vice president and general manager of the North American and Asian aftermarket operations.

“Audio and video technology for the car and beyond is in great demand these days,” says Walt Kwiatkowski, general manager of Royal Radio, an auto accessories distributor. He predicts we’ll be seeing a lot of DVD players in the various places people spend a lot of time during vacation this summer -- airports, on planes, in hotels, and even at picnic tables.

“Mobile entertainment has really come a long way in a short time,” he adds. “I can remember the days when portable AM/FM radio and/cassette tape players were the big things to have. This technology makes that breakthrough seem like it took place in the dark ages.”

For more information about the Visteon Dockable DVD player, log on to www.visteon.com and click on aftermarket. The system is available through Royal Radio stores in Southeast Michigan. To locate the closest distributor near you, see the Visteon aftermarket website at and type in your area code.

Courtesy of ARA Content