Panasonic has disclosed plans Monday to build home appliance factories in Brazil and India to sell more products at mass-market prices in emerging nations.
In Brazil, the company will spend about 6 billion yen to begin local production of refrigerators and washing machines on a roughly 170,000 sq. meter lot in the suburbs of Sao Paulo, switching from exports from Taiwan.
A refrigerator factory with an output capacity of 500,000 units a year is expected to come onstream in October 2012, with a washing machine factory capable of making 200,000 units slated for launch in March 2013.
Panasonic saw shipments of home appliances for Brazil reach about 5 billion yen in fiscal 2009. The firm aims to quintuple this to 25 billion yen by fiscal 2015. It will also consider building an air conditioner factory in the future.
In India, Panasonic will invest about 2.5 billion yen to launch a washing machine manufacturing site near Gurgaon in the northwestern state of Haryana, with production expected to start in August 2012. The facility will start off with an output of 100,000 units a year, but capacity will eventually be raised to 500,000. In addition, the firm plans to invest 5 billion yen to construct an air conditioner factory at the same location.
Panasonic’s shipments of home appliances for India totaled 5 billion yen in fiscal 2009. The firm aims to boost this to 50 billion yen by fiscal 2012 and 90 billion yen in fiscal 2015.