The Chrysler Group has announced that they're looking to install Sirius Satellite Radio in over 70% of their vehicles for the 2008 model year. This is up from about 40% for the previous model year.

Sirius will be included as a standard feature in the premium and mid-level price classes on most Chrysler, Dodge and Jeep 2008 models year vehicles.

Sirius will also be a 100% standard feature - a huge plus - on the Chrysler Sebring and Aspen, the all-new Dodge Challenger (pictured) and Nitro, and the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Commander. Chrysler includes one year of Sirius service with each new vehicle, and Sirius comes pre-activated, so you can listen to Sirius immediately upon delivery of the vehicle.

In 2006, Chrysler Group had sales totaling 2,390,585 units according to Automotive News (note: this figure includes Mercedes-Benz). So as a rough guestimate, we're looking at a potential of over 1.6 million Sirius installs as a result of this announcement. This is definitely good news for Sirius.

Aston Martin and Sirius Satellite Radio have hooked up to offer Sirius as a factory-installed option, with a lifetime subscription included, on select Aston Martin vehicles.

The new models of the Aston Martin V8 Vantage and DB9 vehicle lines - available in the U.S. in August - will be the first models to reap the benefits of this deal.

Up until 2007, Aston Martin was part of the Premier Automotive Group, a division of the Ford Motor Company. On March of this year, the luxury automaker was purchased by a British consortium led by David Richards of Prodrive.

Aston Martin eventually plans to offer Sirius on all models in the near future. Presumably future Sirius offerings from Aston will also include a complimentary lifetime subscription. The lifetime subscription has become a more frequent promotion from Sirius, most recently they announced that the Mini Cooper and Cooper S will be offered with a lifetime subscription.

Following in their U.S. counterpart's footsteps, Sirius Canada and Audi Canada have inked a deal to offer Sirius Satellite Radio as standard-equipment in key 2008 Audis. The deal is similar to the Sirius/Audi deal announced back in April, but the models with factory standard Sirius are slightly different.

Sirius will be available as factory standard equipment on all Canadian model year 2008 Audi S4, A6 4.2, S6, A8, S8 and Audi Q7 4.2 models. Audi Canada will also offer Sirius as factory standard equipment in the all-new R8 mid-engined sports car (pictured). 

A 3-month subscription to Sirius will be included with each vehicle.

Currently, Sirius is available only as a factory option in a large number Audi Canada vehicles including the Audi A3, the A4 sedan, Avant and Cabriolet models; the RS 4, the A6 sedan and A6 Avant; the Audi Q7 SUV; and the new TT Coupe and Roadster. Now Audi Canada is bumping up the offering with Sirius as a factory-standard equipment.

 

WorldSpace Satellite Radio (WSRP) announced that they've inked an OEM partnership with Fiat Group Automobiles, bringing satellite radio to Italy and marking the first steps for satellite radio in Europe.

Starting in late 2008, WorldSpace will begin broadcasting about 40-50 channels to Italy. Then in late 2009, Fiat Group will introduce WorldSpace as a factory-installed option in select Fiat, Alfa Romeo and Lancia models. On top of that, Fiat Group will have the ability to offer portable satellite radios through its aftermarket channel.

In May of last year, WorldSpace received approval from the Italian Ministry of Communications to launch satellite radio services in Italy. WorldSpace delivers audio in the MPEG-4 aacPLUS v.2 codec, utilizing 12.5 MHz of the L-band frequency spectrum which is the only frequency band harmonized for satellite radio over Europe. In January of this year, WorldSpace signed an agreement with Telecom Italia to design and deploy a terrestrial repeater network throughout Italy.

WorldSpace's European strategy is to roll out its service on a country-by-country basis. The next target markets include France, Germany, Spain, the UK, Turkey and Poland.