From our beginnings in an Auckland garage to the global company of today, Navman has always been a pioneer in navigation.
At Navman, we’ve always been innovators, applying our expertise to helping our customers get what they need out of navigation technology.
We were founded in 1986 by Peter Maire as Talon Technology. Working in his Auckland (New Zealand) garage, Peter established us as a pioneer in bespoke electronic products for the Marine market.
That garage-based enterprise grew to become an original design manufacturer (ODM), adding chart plotters and fish-finders to our range of boating instruments, such as wind and depth gauges.
Arise, Navman
Since the 1990s, we have been known as Navman. We took the name from one of the world’s first chart plotters, which were developed by a partner of ours in Europe.
Accompanying this name change was the realisation that GPS (global positioning system) would become a core part of our business.
Placing GPS at our core has led us to expand from our foundation in marine electronics - we launched our first portable in-car navigation devices as early as 1997 and created sports performance measurement tools from 2004.
Alongside that growth into consumer markets, we expanded into B2B markets with the launch of our Wireless Business Solutions group (now Vehicle Tracking Solutions) in mid-2000.
We further developed our B2B offering with the 2001 acquisition of the Rockwell/Conexant GPS module business to become our Commercial GPS Solutions arm.
Our Commercial GPS Solutions maintains our ODM/OEM heritage with off-the-shelf GPS solutions and also private label products, as well as custom solutions.
Forefront of technology
We have been at the forefront of technology ever since our earliest days in that Auckland garage.
We created the first PDA-based in-car navigation device in 1997, our first wireless B2B products came on stream in 2001 as well as the first mass market dedicated portable in-car navigation device, the iCN 630 in 2003.
Alongside our in-car navigation innovations, we developed the world’s first integrated GPRS and GPS receiver enabling businesses to manage their fleet far more efficiently than ever before.
Our range of GPS modules also found applications in industries as diverse as mobile phones and construction, while our iDN 3000 is our first 12V product offering a combined in-car entertainment and GPS unit for automotive uses.
Global growth
Alongside the expansion of our product range, we have been expanding our global presence – for example, our Vehicle Tracking Solutions group now operates in New Zealand and the US following its first launch in the UK in 2001. It has since overseen launches in Chile, Denmark, Spain and the US with partners from 2003 onwards.
Purchase by Brunswick
By 2004, when global marine company Brunswick Corporation completed the purchase of Navman, we had operations across the globe, from New Zealand to South East Asia and from Europe to the Americas.
