It takes years to build a successful brand, but only a few bad decisions, or in some cases a run of bad luck, to ruin one. That’s what makes the planned revitalization of the storied Bendix/King brand name so intriguing. For the past 15 years, Bendix/King has more or less been a victim of neglect as the weeds were allowed to grow up all around it. In short, the brand suffered from the sort of parental abandonment that would have done in lesser names.
But with a massive installed base of customers who still love their old “bulletproof” Bendix/King radios, far from dying a slow death, the Bendix/King brand instead has merely entered a prolonged state of suspended animation. As competitors like Garmin, Avidyne and Aspen Avionics moved swiftly to create products that leveraged GPS and glass display technology, Bendix/King turned out one lackluster box after another while its parent company, Honeywell, focused its attention on the lucrative business jet market with the Primus Epic avionics platform. Sales suffered, but the brand lived on.
