HARMAN Press Conference Script

• Good afternoon, distinguished guests, dear media friends, welcome to the HARMAN press conference!
• I’m Cheng Lei. It is my great pleasure to moderate this conference.
• As we know, HARMAN International is the premier connected technologies company for automotive, consumer and enterprise markets.
• With 16 leading brands including AKG®, Harman Kardon®, Infinity®, JBL®, Lexicon®, Mark Levinson®, HARMAN operates its business in four divisions: Connected Car, Lifestyle Audio, Professional Solutions and Connected Services.
• In this past month, HARMAN became a standalone subsidiary of Samsung Electronics.
• Today, we have the very top leadership team of HARMAN to attend this press conference. It’s my great honor to introduce them to you:
  • President and Chief Executive Officer of HARMAN, Mr. Dinesh Paliwal.
  • Executive Vice President and President of Lifestyle Audio, HARMAN, Mr. Michael Mauser.
  • Executive Vice President and President of Connected Car, HARMAN, Mr. Phil Eyler.
  • Chairman and President, Northeast Asia and Greater China, HARMAN, Mr. David Jin.
• Auto Shanghai is an ideal arena for HARMAN to display its latest innovation breakthroughs for engineering a connected lifestyle. HARMAN would also like to take this opportunity to communicate with media about its latest technology and business achievements in China.
• Now please join me to welcome Mr. David Jin, President of Northeast Asia and Greater China at HARMAN International, to deliver a welcome speech.

• Dear media friends, good afternoon! Welcome to the HARMAN International Press Conference!
• HARMAN’s booth is relatively compact by comparison for this Auto Show. However, we’d like to present spectators a window to a big world, a world of connectivity and music enabled by HARMAN’s industry-leading solutions.
• At the same time, we’d like to demonstrate our many achievements in China, as well as our strong confidence in this emerging market.
• Our business growth in China has remained robust since HARMAN established its China and Northeast Asian headquarters in Shanghai in 2009.
• Today, our annual sales in China exceed US$ 800 million, which represents an annualized growth rate of more than 25 per cent.
• In China, we not only serve renowned international and JV automotive brands that have local manufacturing, but also China’s domestic brands, which are growing at a robust pace.
• Over the years, HARMAN has greatly strengthened its business presence in China. Today, we operate four world-class engineering and research centers, two manufacturing sites, and multiple flagship stores and service centers in China. Most noteworthy, we have nurtured a great team of local talent.
• Thanks to our consolidated manufacturing, innovation, and service networks, HARMAN is now well positioned to address the growing demands of the China market.
• Last month, HARMAN officially became a part of Samsung. This is a win-win alliance, which will provide HARMAN with great potential for further exploring the China market and continuing to serve customers in China.
• Today, I’m honored to have HARMAN’s top leadership joining us.
• Their presence signifies that HARMAN’s global management team attaches great importance to the China market, and has tremendous confidence in China. Please allow me to introduce:
• President and Chief Executive Office of HARMAN International Dinesh Paliwal.
• It’s my great pleasure to invite Mr. Paliwal to deliver a keynote speech.

Introduction

• Ni Hao!  Thank you all for joining us today!
• I am very pleased to share with you many exciting developments at HARMAN -- all of which have tremendous implications for the Chinese automotive industry.
• As you well know, the car is experiencing a transformation unlike any time we have seen since its invention.
• HARMAN plays a unique and critical role in this area, as we are the trusted advisor and technology partner to the world’s automakers in all areas related to the connected car and the in-car experience.
• More than 25 million automobiles on the road today are equipped with HARMAN technology solutions.  An increasingly large number of those vehicles are now located here in China, from customers such as BMW Brilliance Automotive, Beijing Benz Automotive Company, GAC Group, Great Wall and Geely.
• HARMAN continues to innovate globally. Here in China, we are working with you to identify your needs which lead to the development of new technologies to solve and address challenges in the auto industry in this market.
• We bring into the market the best of our precision German engineering and American ingenuity to develop the solutions we’re making for China right here in China.  
• Our development center and production facility in Suzhou is HARMAN’s largest comprehensive R&D facility for car audio products worldwide and helps us stay closer to the China market, get feedback quickly and directly from you, shorten the product development cycle to better meet customer expectations and more flexibly reach out to the global market.
• Our R&D center here in Shanghai is one of HARMAN’s global centers of excellence, where innovation is directed not only at our local customers, but is also brought to the world’s automakers from our talented engineers and designers based here.
• Today, we are here at the Auto Show to showcase innovation, which is at the center of everything we do at HARMAN.
• And I am proud to share that our commitment to collaboration and innovation continues to propel our business forward.

Contracts (GAC/Wuling; Great Wall)

• HARMAN’s business in China is rapidly approaching $1B US dollars in revenue.  And I’m pleased to note that in the last several weeks HARMAN has signed new contracts with three Chinese OEMs for expanded connected car and in-car audio business.
• Totaling over $600M in lifetime revenues, this business includes:
  • First: A new contract with GAC, an extension of our relationship first established in 2015. HARMAN-equipped GAC vehicles redefine infotainment system standards and showcase how advanced in-vehicle connectivity can improve driver efficiency while minimizing distraction and simplifying the user experience.
  • Second: A new contract with Great Wall to provide infotainment systems to their fleet of premium vehicles; and
  • Third: A new agreement with Wuling Motors for premium car audio solutions featuring our Infinity® audio brand, starting in multiple Wuling models later this year.
• These customer wins represent HARMAN’s true global reach in providing both innovative connected car solutions, and bold audio systems that lead the industry. We continue to have strong relationships with the OEMs in China, and these contracts show we play a key role in keeping Chinese automakers on the cutting edge of automotive technology.

Collaboration with Baidu

• Furthering our commitment to the Chinese market, and in the spirit of ongoing collaboration and fostering strong relationships with global innovators, we are also pleased to announce the expansion of our relationship with Baidu to jointly develop new cloud-based artificial intelligence solutions aimed at Chinese automakers.
• We will work together to integrate Baidu’s DuerOS-based personal digital assistant and voice recognition engine technologies with HARMAN’s connected car and cloud platforms. Together, we will create smart automotive features including automatic speech recognition in English and Mandarin, natural language processing and speech synthesis.
• HARMAN has had a strong partnership with Baidu since 2015, when we launched CarLife, a vehicle networking solution that offers advanced Internet capabilities, entertainment features and location-based services on HARMAN's in-vehicle infotainment head units designed for the Chinese market.
• HARMAN’s vision is to revolutionize the in-car experience, and we continue to take bold steps to lead the industry with innovations that enhance and better integrate across the consumer’s digital footprint – from home, to office, to the car.

Digital Cockpit Platform

• On the new technology front, this week we announced a platform solution that intelligently integrates all of the car’s digital displays and the information and services behind them.  An ultimate step forward in HARMAN’s effort to lead the industry when it comes to evolving the user’s in-car experience.
• We are calling this the Digital Cockpit – it is a scalable, cost-effective solution that integrates the functionality of the instrument cluster and center stack infotainment system.
  • The scalable approach allows HARMAN to offer cost-effective cockpit solutions addressing the broader vehicle segments
• This industry leading HARMAN solution designed to improve user experience was created to offer Automakers a cost-effective and scalable platform to offer drivers a vastly improved experience that harmonizes the visual look and feel between all in-car systems, as well as improve system flexibility and performance.
  • By addressing the previously fragmented displays, safety and entertainment features, the Digital Cockpit drives multiple functional domains within the car, simplifying and improving the user experience, and harmonizing the look and feel between all in-car systems.
• Further to HARMAN’s focus on user experience, the platform systems are “future proofed”, with HARMAN’s Ignite IoT solution that provides services and over-the-air (OTA) update capabilities that have been integrated within the platform, enabling new features, functionality, bug fixes or software upgrades to be transferred to the car to keep the in-vehicle experience fresh and current.
• Security is also something top-of-mind for us at HARMAN and the entire system is secured from the “inside-out” by leveraging HARMAN’s industry-leading security framework.

Transition to Samsung

• As you can tell by what we just covered, innovation and collaboration are at HARMAN’s core which is why HARMAN’s acquisition by Samsung made sense not only for our shareholders but for our customers from automakers to end-consumers.
• HARMAN and Samsung are best-in-class organizations and working together as one will allow us to deepen our innovation and collaboration to continue to deliver industry-leading technologies and solutions.

Samsung

• We could not be more thrilled at the opportunities that lie ahead for HARMAN together with Samsung in China and around the world, and are excited to celebrate the amazing automotive technologies we are announcing and the synergy of our newly combined organization that will create significant growth opportunities and deliver greater benefits for our customers.
  • We are enthusiastic about our common vision, the similarities in our culture of innovation, and the added value we can create for customers.
• As a combined company, we are now better positioned than ever to expand resources to accelerate growth and success, identify complementary technologies and expertise and develop an independent structure to ensure focus, continuity and speed.
• We will leverage Samsung's global scale, R&D capabilities, and distribution channels to accelerate innovation across all four of our businesses and drive faster, greater growth in the automotive, consumer, IoT, and enterprise and entertainment markets.
• Recognizing the importance of strategic alliances in an increasingly connected world, particularly in automotive, we are now poised to leverage our combined teams and resources to produce even greater value for our customers around the world.
• The combination of our two companies also accelerates innovation and synergy across all of HARMAN’s business by leveraging Samsung’s global scale, R&D, distribution channels and HARMAN’s deep technical and engineering expertise. We see immediate opportunities for synergy with:
  • Big data analytics, 5G and connectivity, UX/UI and displays, AI, ADAS and service delivery and platform just to name a few
• Bringing together HARMAN’s iconic audio brands and capabilities with Samsung’s leading display technologies will deliver enhanced audio and video experiences to consumers and professional end markets.
• The work together will accelerate innovation and transformation in the automotive, consumer, IoT, enterprise and entertainment markets.   
• In less than two months, I’m already excited and blown away by what’s on the horizon for our newly combined organization and I look forward to continuing to share news as it develops.

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