NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Ford Motor Co. plans to start having factory installation of Sirius satellite radios in 21 models starting this summer, the companies announced today.
Ford (Research) expects the factory-installed option will generate up to 1 million Sirius subscribers during the 2006 and 2007 model years.
Four of Ford's best-selling models -- the Ford F-150 pickup, the Ford Explorer sport/utility vehicle, the Lincoln Mark LT sedan and the Mercury Mountaineer SUV -- will have factory-installed satellite radios for the 2006 models. With the addition of 17 other models in the 2007 model year, about 80 percent of Ford vehicles sold will have satellite radio as an option.
Sirius (Research) -- which will be home to shock jock Howard Stern beginning next January -- announced last week that it had just more than 1.14 million subscribers at the end of 2004, topping the 1 million target it set earlier in the year.
While Sirius was a dealer-installed option on many Ford models, and the auto manufacturer had earlier said it planned to offer it as a factory-installed option, Tuesday's announcement marks the most significant commitment for Sirius, which is No. 2 in the satellite radio market. It is nearly twice the target set by Sirius' other major auto partner, DaimlerChrysler (Research), which plans 550,000 factory installations in the 2005 and 2006 model years.
Factory-installed satellite radios could boost sales because most buyers purchase vehicles already in dealer stock with whatever options were installed at the factory, rather than ordering their own vehicle built with their choice of options.
Sirius competitor XM Satellite Radio (Research), which has roughly 3 million subscribers, has its own exclusive partnerships with auto manufacturers General Motors Corp. (Research) and Honda Motor Co. (Research)
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