December 10, According to Japan's Kyodo news agency reported on The 9th, Panasonic and TCL reached a consensus, will entrust the production of TV models to TCL. Panasonic has effectively moved away from low-margin small - and medium-sized TVS to concentrate on higher-priced models.
Televisions have long been the star business that led Panasonic's home appliances division, but profitability has weakened in recent years, the report said. While profits were secured last year thanks to stay-at-home demand due to COVID-19, a true recovery is far from being achieved and the need for radical reform continues.
Panasonic is also pushing ahead with cutting its own capacity after the closure of its only remaining plant in Utsunomiya, the report said.
In May, Kyodo news reported that Panasonic ended domestic TV production in Japan by the end of March. The only remaining plant in Utsunomiya will focus on research and development of production technology, and the mass production will be concentrated in four overseas plants. TVS used to be the core of the appliance business, but margins have shrunk as competition has intensified. From now on, the company's own products will be limited to high-priced models, in an effort to strengthen profitability.
It was reported at the time that Panasonic was coordinating contract production of its lower-priced smaller models with Chinese home appliance giant TCL.
Panasonic has been producing TVS in Japan since 1952 and has been a major product for a long time. But the heavily invested plasma TV business failed to compete with LCD and announced its exit in 2013. Since then, the company has continued to push forward such reforms as consolidation and model contraction, but the TV business has waxed and waned.
Other domestic electronics giants are also shrinking and retreating, the report said. Hitachi Productions has withdrawn from TV production and sales. Toshiba sold its TV business to China's Hisense Group in 2018.
