Sirius XM Radio tops 50 million factory vehicle installations

Sirius XM Radio Inc. said today it had passed 50 million factory vehicle installations of its satellite radios, and the company expects to top 100 million installations by 2018.

SiriusXM will be installed in nearly 70 percent of new vehicles sold in the United States this year, the company said in a statement.

"The growing installation rate means that SiriusXM is not only widely available to most new-car buyers, but is also available to more and more used-car buyers,” Jim Meyer, president of operations and sales, said in the statement.

Earlier this month, Sirius XM reported a 14 percent increase in subscribers in the second quarter, attributing the growth to higher new-vehicle sales.

The company added about 622,000 subscribers during the quarter, raising its total to 22.9 million.

In the first half of 2012, 1.02 million people subscribed to the satellite radio provider.

Sirius XM Radio CEO Mel Karmazin said during an Aug. 7 conference call that about two-thirds of new vehicles sold in the United States today come with a satellite radio and a trial to SiriusXM because of long-term agreements with automakers.

The rate of trial users becoming paid subscribers after their new-vehicle trials ended was 45 percent in the second quarter, unchanged from the year-earlier period.