The market for high-quality large TVs is showing steady growth on increased product selection and price cuts, an industry association said Thursday.
Domestic shipments of plasma-display panels surged 176 percent to 20,000 units in October from a year earlier, the Japan Electronics and Information Technology Industries Association said.
Liquid-crystal-display TVs rose 57.7 percent to 74,000 units.
Car navigation systems rose 26.6 percent to 215,000, posting double-digit growth for the fourth straight month as more new cars come equipped with the systems and selection expands.
Total shipments of appliances in October rose 3.6 percent from a year earlier to 166.4 billion yen, up for the fourth straight month, the association said.
All-around shipments of visual appliances, including PDPs, LCD TVs and DVD players, rose 6.5 percent to 98.9 billion yen, up for the seventh straight month.
Vehicle audiovisual appliances rose 4.1 percent to 46.7 billion yen, but shipments of audio appliances fell 9 percent to 20.9 billion yen.