dei sold

Charlesbank Capital Partners, a middle-market private equity investment firm, has reached a definitive agreement to acquire DEI Holdings, parent of multiple car electronics brands including Orion, Directed, Python, Clifford, Viper and others, and home-speaker makers Polk Audio and Definitive Technologies. This move was to ward off impending bankruptcy by DEI.DEI will continue under existing management for the time being while other buyers are being found and the company likely split up. Existing shareholders will be bought out of all shares of stock.Support the12volt.com

wow - buy buy buy just to end up like this. They sure did acquire a lot of good brands over the years.Kevin Pierson

Could we please have Clifford back with it's original designers, oops 5 years too late. They are doing a GM.

Howie you want to partner up and put a bid on to buy the Clifford name???? Kevin Pierson

I'm surprised the original owner didn't, he's either gone back to Israel or Northern California. If only I had the money or backing If only DEI had allowed them to get the software right on G5. Apparently when DEI took over they thought they could get Cliffnet Wiz right after firing the original developers but they failed miserably. I STILL say that the original Clifford US build quality although klunky was light years ahead of anything made now, although Prestige and Compustar are very good. I'm using 10 year old G4 product in my own car, never fails, never falses and I can still plug the Wiz in (I keep an old Dell with Win 98SP for it).

DEI going bankrupt. That's really surprising. Their name is so large.commit your way to jehovah and he will act in your behalf. psalms 37:5

Over extending, too much promo, not enough pre-production development, look at the problems such as remotes, failed, internal relays etc. with the 5901. Then the market gets smaller, coupled with the recession, back 15 years ago when Clifford was a "cult" product in the UK, I was installing to new Benz, BMW, RR, Jaguar. Now it's 90s Civics! Also back then you could charge REAL money. 2 years ago I was doing installs for 4 local shops (10 mile radius), they've all gone! Also who wants to really get involved with the latest product, DATA complications, etc. BIG mistake, not limiting 5901/2 to QUALIFIED dealers only rather than the public. That's how Clifford did it. Kept exclusivity and profit. The car audio market in the UK went from £300m pa ($450) to £80m pa ($120) in two years. I can only see Kenwood and JVC surviving here.

I agree howard, i wonder if this shift will affect the product quality further.commit your way to jehovah and he will act in your behalf. psalms 37:5

Half the problem was selling the same product as a Clifford/Viper/Hornet/Avital. They should have rationalised down to say Clifford and viper with one brand entry level, the other upmarket. The point I was making earlier, was that the Clifford marketing policy in the UK was ONLY to sell through approved dealers with people like me going on courses with them and being tested at least once a year! If any dealer sold product over the counter without installation, he was immediately canned. It allowed for a decent margin. Now of course it's a bloody supermarket product rather than a boutique product with no margins. I think I was earning more per install 15 years ago than I am now, meanwhile, for instance,gas prices etc., = $10 per gallon here have tripled.

I remember a few years ago, DEI bought out some product lines, they offered me them dealer direct at a great price.......about 10 percent higher than what the distributor was charging.......suggested they recheck their pricing and get back to me.  Later, they offered a revamped model line, the pricing stayed the some but power was half, seemed like a great deal.  They did send me a great golf shirt.

Kenwood and Jvc are pretty much one company here now, Howie.  They started working to gether a couple of years back, I hope more survive.