History 1940-1999

December, 1940 Established as Hakusan Wireless Electric Company, began manufacturing of batteryoperated household radios.
Capital of 180,000 yen
November, 1943 Merged with Takizawa Wireless Electric Industries Co., Ltd., renamed as Teikoku Dempa Co., Ltd.
February, 1951 Produced Japan's first car radio.
June, 1958 Exported car radios to U.S., creating the base for Japanese car audio exports.
May, 1959 Car radio receives genuine parts specification from Nissan® Motor.
August, 1962 Listed on 2nd section of Tokyo Stock Exchange.
October, 1963 Developed Japan's first car stereo, began marketing August of following year.
September, 1967 Saitama office opened in Toda-shi, Saitama, Japan
March, 1968 Marketed Japan's first cassette car stereo.
August, 1969 Listed on 2nd section of Osaka Stock Exchange.
February, 1970 Upgraded from 2nd to 1st section of Tokyo and Osaka stock exchanges.
April, 1970 Opened head office at Dogenzaka, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
December, 1970 Corporate name changed to Clarion Co., Ltd.
December, 1970 First overseas factory (CM) established as joint venture in Malaysia.
June, 1975 Started Clarion Girl campaign, with Agnes Lum becoming first grand prix winner.
August, 1976 Business-use karaoke "Karaoke 8" and cassette editing deck "Dubbing X" are marketed.
October, 1978 Tohoku office opened in Koriyama-shi, Fukushima, Japan.
November, 1980 Head office moved to Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
July, 1983 Factory established in France(CF).
November, 1983 Gumma office established in Oura-gun, Gumma-ken. / Manufacturing company established in Mexico.
July, 1987 CD5000 car CD player marketed.
October, 1989 Manufacturing company established in the Philippines.
February, 1992 Voice-guidance car navigation system NAC-200 is marketed.
April, 1993 Clarion's SS wireless modem clears for the first time the technical standards set by Japanese government, and is marketed.
January, 1995 Clarion Orient Co. (COC) established in Hong Kong.
April, 1995 ISO-9001 certification obtained for all Clarion establishments in Japan.
April, 1995 Factory completed in China (DCOE).
May, 1996 VICS-compatible car navigation system marketed
April, 1997 Hamamatsu branch office opened.
October, 1997 Manufacturing company established in Hungary.
January, 1998 Joint development of invehicle personal computer “AutoPC” with Microsoft® Corp.
December, 1998 “AutoPC™” marketed for the first time in the U.S.
August, 1999 ETC terminal jointly developed with Hitachi.
December, 1999 OEM supply of "AutoPC" to French automaker Citroen® begins.

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