UK carmakers have been accused of ‘letting down’ down seven million music fans who listen to CDs in their cars, after it emerged all mainstream car manufacturers have stopped putting the players in new models.
A trade body which represents music, video and gaming retailers, described the move by vehicle producers as ‘remarkably short-sighted’ saying it will stop people ‘listening to the music they love’.
Last week consumer group Which? revealed that Subaru, the last brand to sell a car with the device, removed the technology earlier this year.
In response, ERA, the digital entertainment and retail association, has carried out research which it says shows seven million individuals still listen to CDs in their cars.
This is about 20 per cent of the estimated 34.5 million English residents aged 17 and over who hold a full driving licence.
The ERA said its research showed that 15 per cent of the UK adult population ‘reported that they listen to music on CD in their cars’.
ERA chief executive Kim Bayley said: ‘This is a remarkably short-sighted move by carmakers to stop fans listening to the music they love.’
People listening to CDs in their cars is only slightly less than those who do so in the home, the ERA added.
But the numbers using CDs at home and in the car has dropped significantly in the last five years, research shows.
The trade body added that while there had been a ‘sharp slide’ in CD sales over the past 20 years – down to 11.4m in 2023 from 170m in 2004 – in recent years there had been signs of a ‘rebound’.
It pointed to the revival in vinyl sales with 18 years of successive growth for that format.
Ms Bayley said: ‘Carmakers seem to be looking through the rear-view mirror when it comes to CD.
‘The lesson of vinyl is you should never write off a music format. Even today 50 per cent more people say they listen to music on CD as on vinyl.’
She added: ‘Taylor Swift is leading the way. The 172,000 CDs sold in the UK this year of her latest album The Tortured Poets Department is more than the three biggest-selling cars in the UK last year combined.
‘Car manufacturers should listen to the Swifties and give the CD another chance.’
There have been CDs in car for about four decades.
Mercedes-Benz was the first to have included them in their vehicles in 1985.
According to reports, as recently as last year a number of new models had still included the technology, such as the Porsche 718 and Lexus LC.