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LG Electronics Residential AC Business Unit Senior Manager, Jae Sung Lee (left) and LG Electronics (Thailand) AC Regional Business Leader, Gi Yeun Bae during the launch of the LG Health+ Inverter in Thailand
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4th August, 2010
KOTA KINABALU: Malaysia will be an important market for the LG Electronics (LGE) Air Conditioning (AC) Company in attaining its global objectives, said LG Electronics (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd managing director and chief executive officer, Jeff Cheh.
“As a truly global company with a growing portion of revenue coming from overseas sales, Malaysia is an important market for LGE AC Company and we aim to contribute significantly to global objectives,” he said.
“Combined with our core value of blending smart technology with stylish design, we are poised to take the LG brand forward in a compelling way,” said Cheh.
LGE AC Company, which became an independent company in 2009 from one of the five business units of LGE, announced in March its plans to increase its market share in Asia from 22 per cent in 2010 to 30 per cent by 2013.
This will include a jump in the sales of its Health+ Inverter air conditioning unit from USD 60 million to USD 250 million over the same period.
LGE AC Company estimated that the residential air conditioning (RAC) market in South East Asia will grow with a cumulative growth rate of 13 per cent and plans to overtake its competitors to be the highest market share holder of 25 per cent by 2011 and 30 per cent by 2013.
“Since last year, LGE AC Company has been making stable growth and historic profit, despite the global economic recession, by focusing on their marketing activities to increase brand value and developing air conditioners based on customer insight,” Cheh said.
“This is evidenced in Indonesia when LGE AC Company earned the top market share of 35 per cent last year after it has been dominated by Japanese brands for more than 40 years with the anti-dengue Terminator model,” he said.
For this year, Cheh said, LGE AC Company is adopting a 3S (Safe, Silent and Saving) strategy to differentiate itself from the tough competition between air conditioning system manufacturers based on customer insight where healthcare and energy saving have become the most important key buying factors when purchasing an air conditioner.
“The Health+ Inverter model boasts the lowest noise level of any air conditioner at 19dB as well as the highest level of energy efficiency, using up to 60 per cent less electricity than previous non-Inverter models, by operating at 670 watts.
“The Health+ Inverter also employs an advanced multi filter system with anti-bacterial, deodorization and sterilization features based on its plasma filter system developed in 2008,” he said.
According to test conducted by the KISATO Research Center for Environmental Science in Japan, 99.9 per cent of H1N1 viruses were killed in 24 hours by LG Health+ Inverter’s allergy and virus safe filter, he added.
As of June 2010, Cheh said LG Electronics (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd has sold more than 230,000 units of Health+ air conditioners and is currently holding a 7.9 per cent market share based on industry figures in May this year.
“The LG Health+ air conditioner offers key benefits for consumers as it is virus safe and energy saving while being more silent at the same time. These benefits have largely contributed to sales, which have been rising month by month since the unit debuted in January this year,” he said.
LG AC Company currently produces 1.6 million units a year in Thailand, its main South East Asia factory. It expects to improve its capacity to 2 million units by next year.
Cheh also said LGE AC Company intends to expand its business portfolio into energy solutions to be the top HVAC (heat, ventilation, air conditioning) and energy solutions company after undergoing an organizational restructuring in January.
The company also plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 28 million tons by providing a range of highly-efficient inverters and increase the use of eco-friendly refrigerants (R-410A) from 10 per cent to approximately 55 per cent of its air conditioners by 2012, he added.
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