Garmin Ltd. announced Tuesday it was buying privately held German firm Navigon AG and making it into a subsidiary.

A Garmin spokeswoman declined to reveal what the company paid for Navigon, and said it was uncertain whether the company would continue to sell products under its own brand.

“Navigon has invested significantly in the European automotive (factory-installed) business, and we feel that we can rapidly expand our automotive (built-in device) footprint and capabilities through this transaction,” Cliff Pemble, Garmin’s president and COO, said in a news release.

Garmin was also enticed by Navigon's popular applications iPhone and Android smartphones. Pemble said in a news release that the acquisition could prove especially valuable in European markets.

The company has an about 7 percent of the handheld, portable navigation devices in Europe.