Panasonic is working hard to improve its position in the Thai refrigerator market by launching 12 new locally made models.

Takeshi Nomoto, managing director of the local sales unit, said the firm is aiming to attract customers of various incomes in a bid to move from fifth place to within the top three by 2020.

Hitachi, Samsung Electronics and Mitsubishi Electric lead the local market.

Panasonic, which generally focuses on high-end refrigerators priced over 30,000 baht ($880), recently unveiled the 12 new models with prices ranging from 14,190 baht to 31,990 baht.

Panasonic expects its Thai refrigerator sales to grow more than 10 percent this year and hopes its share in the market will rise by 1 to 2 percentage points.

Nomoto said Thailand's electrical appliances industry slowed down last year due to weak consumption, causing the refrigerator market to shrink 4 percent from 13.3 billion baht to 12.8 billion baht. But he anticipates that Thailand's economic rebound will lead the refrigerator market to grow 3 percent to 13.2 billion baht this year.