5 Car Brands That Offer Bose Audio Systems

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Drivers the world over spend a lot of time behind the wheel, and few things can make a long commute easier than an incredible car audio system. Over the years, vehicle manufacturers have joined forces with some of the best names in speakers and amplification, with the end goal of delivering in-vehicle sound quality that can’t be beat. One such audio stalwart is none other than Bose, a company that started collaborating with automotive manufacturers all the way back in 1983. Bose partnered with GM, and there were three vehicles released in 1983 with built-in Bose audio: the Cadillac Seville, the Buick Riviera, and the Oldsmobile Toronado.

Bose is still a revered name in both the audio and vehicular worlds, and its speakers and other audio devices are still built into many vehicles. There also isn’t just one car brand that uses Bose. Today, we’ll be taking a look at five manufacturers that decided the Bose route was the right way to go. Throughout this roundup, we’ll also be highlighting multiple vehicles per car brand, as well as putting the spotlight on each brand’s first-ever vehicle to feature Bose audio.

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It’s hard to talk about Chevrolet without mentioning the Corvette, one of the world’s most iconic sports cars. And guess what? The 1984 C4 Corvette was Chevy’s very first Bose-equipped vehicle, which offered Delco-Bose speakers as an optional audio system upgrade. The base speakers were an unspecified set of 6-inch-by-9-inch drivers, according to Crutchfield. 

Fast forward to 2026, and you’ll find Bose systems in everything from the Corvette Stingray and Malibu to the Silverado and Tahoe lineups. Another popular vehicle with Bose speakers is the Bolt, Chevrolet’s electric vehicle (EV) with some of the best factory-installed speakers. It appears that Bose went all in on attenuation for Chevy, too. The tech’s official name is Bose Premium Audio and Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), and it’s designed to reduce car and road noise so that you can focus on your music or podcast. 

There are several Bose configurations, too; a couple of options include a 7-speaker and RichBass woofer system (available on the Silverado 1500), and a 10-speaker and Centerpoint Surround Sound system (available on the Tahoe, Premier, and High Country trims). We should also mention that these Bose systems are optional upgrades; each vehicle has a base audio system available, too. Over on the Silverado EV subreddit, the overwhelming majority were in favor of Bose audio, but a handful of users did mention that audiophiles may not be overly impressed. 

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Honda is one of the most revered international car brands, and the initial Bose-Honda courtship was actually pretty recent. The 2022 Honda Civic Touring was the first vehicle to incorporate Bose audio, with a 12-speaker configuration and a subwoofer. The vehicle also introduced Speed-Sensitive Volume Compensation (SVC) to automatically raise and lower the volume based on car and road noise levels.

Skipping ahead a few years to the present day, you can find Bose audio systems on several Honda models, but only on upper trims. These include the Accord, Civic, CR-V, Passport, Pilot, Prelude, and Prologue. Most optional configurations include 12 speakers with Bose’s Centerpoint and Surround Sound tech (though the Prelude features an eight-speaker setup), which is designed to provide an immersive listening experience for the driver and all passengers.

We combed over the Honda Civic subreddit and read some very good user feedback on the car’s Bose system. The top comment (as of July 2026) from AyySorento is a detailed opinion worth reading, and the line that stuck out to us is the following: “I wouldn’t say it’s something to write home about, but compared to the regular speakers, there is a clear difference.” Other users in the subreddit either felt similarly or were very pleased with their cars’ Bose audio.

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While Hyundai Motor Group is Kia’s parent company, the latter is treated as a standalone brand. Thus, the first Kia Motors vehicle to include a Bose system was the 2021 Kia Seltos. It was an optional eight-speaker configuration, which included four door speakers, a center channel, two door-mounted tweeters, a subwoofer, and an amplifier. According to Edmunds, the system delivered “clear sound and punchy bass.”

In 2026, and into 2027, Bose continues its optional offerings on premium Kia trims. Available vehicles include the Kia Carnival, K5, Seltos, and Sorento, all of which, except the Seltos, feature a 12-speaker array (the Seltos is limited to eight speakers). Both the Carnival and Sorento include Bose’s Centerpoint and Surround Sound tech, too. It was tough for us to find any current forums discussing Kia-Bose sound quality, but the Kia subreddit discussed the matter a few years back.

Overall, people seem to like the upgraded audio. A user by the name of Khend81 commented: “[I]t’s a nice system. Slightly lacking in the bass department for my liking.” That said, the word “overpriced” was tossed around a fair bit in the subreddit and the Kia forum. A lack of bass is another complaint we’ve heard, but users like Khend81 were content to add a second dedicated woofer down the line.

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Bose and Nissan have been working together for well over three decades at this point. The very first vehicle to include Bose audio was the 1988 Nissan Maxima (Type II trim) in Japan, while the first U.S. vehicle to receive the Bose treatment was the 1989 Maxima SE. In that same year, Nissan put out the Infiniti Q45, which also included a Bose system.

How are things looking in 2026 and 2027? There are more than 10 Nissan-branded vehicles that feature Bose audio on higher trims — including the Altima, Kicks, and Pathfinder — as well as four Infiniti rides: the Q50, the Q60, the QX50, and the QX55. For Nissan, the fewest Bose speakers you can have is eight, but models like the Pathfinder have up to 13 drivers. Bose also added UltraNearfield speakers (available in the Kicks only) in the driver’s headrest for enhanced immersion.

As far as feedback goes, the Nissan subreddit leans toward the positive. One user said, “Hands down better bass response and not as much distortion at high volumes.” It’s also worth mentioning that Nissan did a great job at balancing cabin acoustics; a MotorTrend review of the 2026 Murano claims that the interior remains “impressively quiet at speed.”

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Last but not least, we have Volvo, a car brand that’s been using Bose technology since 2022. But the first Bose-upgradeable car — the Volvo EX90 — didn’t hit the market until 2024. It was a 14-speaker configuration, complete with SurroundStage tech and Bose’s Centerpoint 360 digital signal processing. Nowadays, you’ll find Bose speakers in three Volvo vehicles: the ES90, the EX60, and the EX90.

Remarkably, the EX60 Bose upgrade nets you a total of 21 speakers, as well as SurroundStage, AudioPilot for volume leveling, and BassSync for enhanced low end. The ES90 and EX90 models keep the audio-tuning features, but drop the speaker count to 14. But guess what? Bose isn’t the tip of the iceberg for Volvo sound. For the highest trims, Bowers & Wilkins (B&W) is the flagship audio option.

We took a skip over to the Volvo EX90 subreddit for user feedback, and were surprised to read a comment that favored the Bose option over B&W. Additional comments erred on the thumbs-up side, with maybe the worst feedback being that the Bose audio was simply “adequate.” There’s nothing wrong with a mixed bag, though, especially when it’s mostly filled with happy customers.