BERLIN – Electronics giant Panasonic Corp. plans to build a home appliances plant in Europe, Senior Managing Director Kazunori Takami said Sunday.
The company hopes to launch the plant in 2015, he said in an interview and with other media organizations in Berlin, where the IFA 2012 electronics exhibition kicked off Friday for a six-day run.
Takami said shipping products made at the firm’s Chinese plant to Europe is costly.
Panasonic will decide on the venue for the new plant after examining market conditions in Europe and Russia, he said. It hopes to produce 1 million refrigerators and washing machines a year at the European base, Takami said.
In fiscal 2011, which ended last March, the company’s home appliance shipments to Europe totaled some ¥40 billion. Panasonic now aims to achieve ¥100 billion in European-bound shipments in fiscal 2015, up from the initially targeted level of ¥80 billion, by increasing shipments of beauty-care products, Takami said.