In a joint presentation at the 2013 International CES^® – the world’s largest annual innovation event – GfK and the Consumer Electronics Association (CEA^®) will share results from new research on which technologies new car buyers (both drivers and passengers) will want on the inside of their cars five years from now, including which benefits are most important and what tradeoffs they will or won’t want to make.

The study draws on global crowd sourcing of ideas, consultations with experts in the field, predictive need-state research, and a FutureScape projective sizing study to define which technologies car owners are likely to embrace over the next five years, and which may fall by the wayside.

Titled “The Future of Auto Technology,” the session will be part of the CEA’s Research Summit on January 7th, 2013, at the International CES in Las Vegas. Presenters will be Ralph Blessing, Executive Vice President, Market Opportunities and Innovation, at GfK; Sam McCloy, Vice President, Technology, at GfK, and Donna Miller, Executive Vice President, Automotive, at GfK.

Client inquiries about the auto technology report should be directed to Ralph Blessing at ralph.blessing@gfk.com.

“Digital technology has multiplied the devices and services available in-car, much as it has made the general electronics landscape much more complex,” said Blessing. “We could not have a smarter, more appropriate partner than the CEA in discerning which of these emerging in-car options will have real traction with consumers five years from now. Our findings will provide essential guidance to car manufacturers, OEM vendors, and others with a keen interest in how this environment is likely to develop.”

The CEA is the preeminent trade association promoting growth in the $190 billion U.S. consumer electronics industry. More than 2,000 companies belong to the CEA, which also owns and produces International CES.

Ralph Blessing is a key player in GfK’s Market Opportunity and Innovation Solutions group, focused on identifying future white space and generating high potential growth ideas for clients in a variety of industries. He has over 20 years of client side experience leading innovation efforts and joined GfK in 2006.

Sam McCloy leads GfK Technology’s client engagements across the Consumer Electronics, Digital Media, Telematics and Enterprise Software markets. Primary focus areas include concept testing, pricing, segmentation, customer and user experience (UX) and product innovation. He joined GfK in 2010.

Donna Miller leads the syndicated West Coast client teams at GfK Automotive. In the past few years, she has focused on brand strategy, product portfolio analysis, marketing positioning issues as well as oil price impacts on automotive demand. She is the Lead Key Account Manager for Nissan, Toyota and Honda.

About GfK

GfK is one of the world’s largest research companies, with more than 12,000 experts working to discover new insights into the way people live, think and shop, in over 100 markets, every day. GfK is constantly innovating and using the latest technologies and the smartest methodologies to give its clients the clearest understanding of the most important people in the world: their customers.

To find out more, visit www.gfk.com/us or follow GfK on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GfK_en.