Pandora Driving Sales With Ford, Scion Deals

Pandora (NYSE:P) is revving up its profit engine by adding vehicles to its integration to-do list.

The Oakland, Calif.-based Internet radio provider has inked a new partnership with Scion and expanded its relationship with Ford (NYSE:F) to increase its presence in automobiles.

Pandora already has in-vehicle integrations with BMW, Mercedes-Benz, MINI and Ford, and the latest move will add another 10 Ford and two Lincoln cars.

Buick, Chevrolet, GMC, Hyundai and Toyota (NYSE:TM) have also announced plans to integrate Pandora into their vehicles.

Our goal is to allow people to personalize their radio experience anytime, anywhere, Pandoras executive vice president of business development, Jessica Steel, said at an analyst conference in San Francisco. Nearly 50% of radio consumption happens in the car, so it's a natural venue for Pandora.

The latest effort by Pandora to turn a profit comes just a month after it started trading on Wall Street and amid continued concerns that it may not be able to stay afloat with a lack of revenue drivers. The service is mostly free for users, with a majority of revenue coming from ad sales.

On Tuesday the company said 100 million users have registered for Pandoras free service. Some 36 million listeners access Pandora monthly and the radio company said that number continues to climb as Pandora grabs a larger share of the market.

Pandora ended 2010 with 2.3% market share of all radio listening in the U.S. It now has 3.6% of market share, according to its chief executive, Joe Kennedy.