FUSION holds its own on the worldwide stage

2012’s International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) was the largest in the events 44-year history, with over 150,000 people descending on Las Vegas for the event. A record number of exhibitors (3,100) were spaced over 1.861 million square feet - and FUSION was packed in there with the best of them.

According to Les Battyanyi, Global Car Audio Manager for FUSION, the brands attendance at the world’s biggest show, next to brands like Sony, Samsung and LG, provided an opportunity to exhibit new products on the world stage.

It was FUSION’s first appearance at the show in four years, during which time the team were designing and developing madly, creating new FUSION offerings from scratch. “This was perfect timing for us to reveal the fruits of that labour and show our new car and marine audio products off, many for the first time!” says Les.

And reveal we did…. Despite being a trade show, the proliferation nowadays of broadcast cameras and people blogging to You Tube means that, as new products are showcased to retailers, they effectively are released in the public domain simultaneously.  

Revealed for the first time was FUSION’s new car audio source units, the CA-CD800, CA-CD700 and the CA-ML600. “Overall, everyone was very impressed by the styling of these products and the fact that we’ve managed to re-enter the market with something a bit different in terms of design,” says Les.

According to Les, “One of the features that really stood out for buyers was the DSLC (Direct Subwoofer Level Control) allowing people to easily push a button on the the unit to change the volume of the subwoofer. We’re the only company at this stage that does that! The other thing that impressed the punters was the fact that all the models in this range had our 32k Variable Colour Illumination, to enable them to fully customise their stereos.”

FUSION’s CP-AW1121 and EN-AW1121 active sub enclosures were also a huge hit, with a detailed front panel, never done before ‘curve’ design and styling that sets them apart from others in the market. “The active sub enclosures were universally well received and people were blown away by the cosmetics. Several people came up to me and said ‘that must be loud’, which is exactly what we were going for,” laughs Les. “The active sub enclosures provide as close as possible to a ‘plug and play’ solution, for easy installation, while still looking as good as if they were built in a custom shop. We're definitely still a market leader in this area.”

Lastly, the 700 Series for Marine was showcased at CES. While these products had featured at a couple of shows already, this appearance marked the truly worldwide release and its easy control via iPad and iPhone provided an exciting ‘talking point’. The more general nature of CES meant the true innovative nature of the 700 Series features were realised. “One guy I spoke to built limousines and wanted something with the unique features of the 700 Series to fit in these – waterproof, controllable by mobile device and use of the different zones. It was an interesting use to consider!” says Les.

Overall the show was a huge success for FUSION and they’ve committed already to attending, with an even ‘bigger and better’ presence in 2013.