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Clarion stock up on Nissan car navigation deal
TOKYO, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Shares in Clarion Co Ltd roared ahead in Monday morning trade after Japan's leading car audio equipment maker said it received an order to supply 200,000 car navigation systems to Nissan Motor Co Ltd .

The deal is the first between the two firms in the booming car navigation market in Japan, which Clarion estimates will grow by 10 percent to two million units this year.

Clarion shares shot up to a high of 108 yen, up 37 percent, before easing to 98 yen, up 24 percent, by mid-morning trade.

With its DVD-equipped systems to be installed in three new Nissan models making their debut in the fiscal year starting in April, Clarion expects to grab around 10 percent of the domestic market.

Clarion is owned 11.3 percent by Nissan and is its major supplier of car audio equipment. It expects the new deal to strengthen ties with the nation's third-largest automaker, a Clarion spokesman said.

He estimated that a navigation system cost automakers a wholesale price of around 100,000 yen ($753) and that the deal would bring in around 20 billion yen in the next business year.

The Nihon Keizai Shimbun daily reported over the weekend that Nissan selected Clarion's advanced telematics system -- which responds to voice commands -- in preference to equipment from a unit of Hitachi Ltd , its primary supplier of car navigation systems.

A Nissan spokesman declined to comment on details but said its relationship with the Hitachi group, which makes Nissan's GPS-installed systems, would not change.

He also declined to comment on the report's information that Clarion's product would serve as the terminal for Nissan's voice-activated telematics system, Carwings, to be launched in March.

By 0100 GMT, shares in Nissan were down 0.63 percent at 794 yen, while the broader market remained largely unchanged.