A lot has happened in car audio in the supposedly slow news months of July and August.
Car Toys’ announced that it sought Chapter 11 protection under bankruptcy laws and that it is selling 35 of its 47 stores.
Alpine, in July, let go of its direct sales force and is in the process of switching to use of independent sales reps, exclusively.
A number of executive changes were announced last month: Nick Wingate went to HKI (Ground Zero) as Director of Car Audio Development, and Wet Sounds promoted Mark Gerick to Business Unit Director. Rex Berfield, most recently an executive at distributor DAS, joined Rydeen Mobile as Strategic Sales Manager.
New products were announced in August by ZZ2, JL Audio, MTX, Arc Audio, RDVFL, American Bass, HELIX and others.
KnowledgeFest Dallas was held last month featuring a chat with Gene, who appeared on the TV show “The Fixer,” where business expert Marcus Lemonis helps turn around a stressed company. Gene’s journey provides a roadmap for other car audio dealers. We hope to bring you a summary of Gene’s talk at KnowledgeFest in the coming weeks.
Here are the top stories for the month of August 2025 in CEoutlook:
