Company president and CEO Patrick Lavelle said the moves are a direct response to last week's posting by Audiovox of a second quarter net loss of US$2.3 million.

Lavelle said also that the overall first-half 2008 net loss for Audiovox was $7.53 million compared with net income of $5.96 million last year. Net sales for the period rose 5.5 per cent to $291.8 million from $276.5 million in 2007, driven largely by consumer demand for video cameras, small portable CE devices and satellite radio receivers.

Audiovox, whose business and reputation has been gained primarily from quality in-vehicle audio systems, has seen that division rocked by the devastating downturn in the North American auto industry.