Carrier gets ready for next summer

agencyfaqs! News Bureau

NEW DELHI, October 14

The heat is already on. In the air-conditioner industry as big players draw up their strategies for next summer.

To strengthen its portfolio, market leader Carrier Aircon plans to bring in a completely new brand of ACs in India. It plans to launch six models of the premium Toshiba window ACs in January 2001.

Similarly positioned will be two completely new products for the Indian market - the inverter multi-split ACs (wherein splits can be placed in many rooms through one AC unit) and the 7-75 tonne multi-modular systems (cooling systems connected to several floors in multi-storeyed buildings). The first one will be targeted both at the household and light commercial segments, while the second is aimed largely at the commercial segment.

Carrier Aircon, which has led the air-conditioner market in India for years, has seen a host of foreign players make a bid for its position in the recent years - especially in the room AC segment. With competition becoming stiffer, the company is trying to cover its flanks in all segments of the market. With the launch of Toshiba it hopes to stall competition in the premium end of the AC market.

The Toshiba launch has been made possible following the US-based Carrier Corporation's acquisition of 40 per cent stake in Toshiba Airconditioning of Japan last year. Carrier Corp now has the right to sell Toshiba ACs outside Japan. Its Indian subsidiary can therefore source Toshiba ACs from both its units in Japan and Thailand.

The company plans to sell the Toshiba brand of ACs in the top six to eight cities next summer. While the company has finalised the portfolio of Toshiba products that it will bring into India, the prices are still being worked out.

Carrier Aircon plans to keep the Toshiba brand completely separate from the Carrier brand. The Toshiba unit will work as a separate unit within Carrier. A new team, to look after Toshiba, is being put in place. The Toshiba range will not even be sold in the 400-strong exclusive outlets of Carrier Aircon. An exclusive ad campaign for the Toshiba range will break in January 2001.

While putting its plans for next summer in place, the company hopes to end the current financial year with a 26 per cent share in room ACs and a 28 per cent share in the overall AC market.

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