Arçelik and Hitachi Global Life Solutions has created a new joint venture company, Arçelik Hitachi Home Appliances B.V. The new joint venture, established by transferring 11 subsidiaries outside Japan (two manufacturing and nine sales companies) of Hitachi GLS, is operationally based in Bangkok, Thailand. Arçelik Hitachi Home Appliances provides manufacturing, sales, and after-sales service for Hitachi branded home appliances (refrigerators, washing machines and vacuum cleaners, etc.) outside Japan. Arçelik has consistently expanded its home appliance business to 150 countries around the world. The company has grown significantly in Europe and achieved strong growth in South Asia over the last decade. Hitachi GLS has been operating its home appliance business mainly in Southeast Asia and the Middle East, where it enjoys a high-end brand image.
The Arçelik Hitachi Home Appliances CEO will be Zafer Üstüner, the former Regional Head of APAC and General Manager of Thailand at Beko. Under his leadership, the new joint venture will combine the sales networks of both companies to expand the sales regions of Hitachi brand products to Europe, North Africa and other regions, as well as to integrate business bases such as production systems and procurement to strengthen competitiveness. In the field of R&D, Arçelik and Hitachi GLS will also integrate the knowledge of both parties to create new value such as connected home appliances.
«We are delighted – Hakan Bulgurlu, CEO, Arçelik said – to launch our new joint venture with Hitachi GLS, Arçelik Hitachi Home Appliances. This is a major step for us in achieving our global expansion ambitions and goals to become one of the world’s top home appliances companies. The venture will have the chance to utilize complementary product portfolio and operational footprints of Arçelik. In the next few years, we will see Hitachi brand products covering full major domestic appliance need of customers and growing both in existing markets and new ones (geographies) by the support of Arçelik companies.»
«We are pleased to introduce Arçelik Hitachi Home Appliances – explained Jun Taniguchi, President of Hitachi Global Life Solutions – our new joint venture company with Arçelik. I am confident that by strengthening the complementary sales networks and product strategies of both companies, Arçelik Hitachi Home Appliances will gain a competitive edge and become a market leader in the global home appliances market. In addition, by combining the distinctive technologies of both companies, such as environmental resistance and digital technology, we will contribute to improving the QoL of consumers and develop products and services that will realize a sustainable society».
