All content in this article is based on official and reliable sources, and the specific information is detailed at the end of the article
-< > foreword-
As a world-renowned air conditioning brand, Japan's Panasonic began to enter China more than 30 years ago and gained a firm foothold in China with its high-end technology.
However, just last year, Panasonic shifted the manufacturing of mid-to-high-end home air conditioning production lines from China to Japan.
So why did Panasonic withdraw from such a large market as China? Can domestic air conditioning compressors replace Japan?
-< the rise of domestic air conditioners, Japanese companies are struggling>-
Now that it is almost May, the scorching summer is coming, and the company of air conditioning is indispensable at this time.
But do you know how air conditioning was born?
At the beginning of the last century, an engineer in a printing shop discovered this little secret by chance, when he accidentally added cold water to the heating coil, only to find that there was a puff of air that turned from hot to cold in the operation room.
By chance, the air conditioner we use today was born at that time.
The first air conditioner on the mainland was in 1924, but the Kadoorie Marble Tower in Shanghai became the first building to install air conditioning.
Later, with the rapid development of China's economy, many foreign-funded enterprises seized this opportunity to enter China and quickly occupied the Chinese market.
It was also at this time that Panasonic, a well-known Japanese electrical appliance brand, officially entered the Chinese market, especially in the 90s.
At that time, it can be said that foreign brands occupied a certain monopoly position in China.
However, we can't have a little bit of development, in 1993, China's air conditioning brand ushered in a new opportunity.
At that time, Haier opened up the history of China's central air conditioning, although Haier was a joint venture with Mitsubishi to produce small commercial air conditioners, but a beginning means that there will be development.
In less than six years, Chinese air-conditioning brands have sprung up one by one, such as the well-known Midea, Gree.
Through various technological breakthroughs and innovations, these brands have finally regained the Chinese market from foreign brands little by little.
After more than ten years of development, China's air conditioning brands have not only achieved various overtakes, but also created one miracle after another.
In 2022, domestic brands will achieve their desire to have a market share of more than 50%, surpassing the total share of foreign brands.
Not only has such a result been achieved in China, but China's air conditioner exports overseas will also be very hot in 2023.
In 1~5 months last year, the share of air conditioners exported by China also increased significantly, and even Japan, a giant exporter of air conditioners, also increased by 14%.
Just when China's air conditioners are becoming more and more fierce, Panasonic, a major Japanese electrical appliance manufacturer, has made an unexpected decision......
-< to withdraw the production line of high-end air conditioning compressors>-
In June last year, the Panasonic Group said it would move the production line of mid-to-high-end household air conditioners from China back to Japan by 2024, and they said they would increase the share of domestic production by 30% starting in March this year.
You must know that in addition to the top models of Panasonic's air conditioners, about ninety percent of the models are produced in the Guangzhou factory.
Panasonic has been rooted in Guangzhou for nearly 30 years, and it can be said that it is an important production base, which also means that about 40% of Guangzhou's air conditioning production lines will be relocated to Japan.
It is worth noting that Panasonic Air Conditioner has three production bases in the world, one is in their domestic market, and the other is in Malaysia and our Guangzhou.
In 1993, in order to develop more smoothly, Panasonic also established a compressor company in Guangzhou, which can be said to have completed a complete production chain.
Many people say that buying an air conditioner is actually buying a compressor, in fact, this sentence is not wrong at all, if most people want to buy an air conditioner, they should take a good look at the quality and life of the compressor.
Panasonic is favored by consumers by virtue of its self-produced and self-developed compressor technology.
Although its compressor is not as strong as Mitsubishi's, the overall performance is not bad, because it has a strong temperature control technology, so that the air conditioner can make the room cool in a short time, and the low-temperature heat storage technology is much better than the electric auxiliary heat of ordinary air conditioners.
If Panasonic moves the Guangzhou compressor production line back to Japan, it will actually have a certain impact on us, after all, Panasonic compressors have an annual production capacity of tens of millions of units in China every year, and they are used in various fields.
With such rumors, many people are worried about whether our air conditioner is stuck by the neck of the Japanese company, because Panasonic has a lot of compressor patents.
For a long time, the mainland did not have the technology and ability of compressors, and many centrifugal units were purchased from abroad, resulting in various industries relying on foreign brands for cooling core equipment.
So after learning that Panasonic was going to transfer back to the production line, people's worries also rose.
However, Panasonic Air Conditioner and Panasonic Wanbao Compressor are two different production bases, and the Japanese company's plan is to withdraw part of the production line of Panasonic Air Conditioner.
But this also gives us a sense of crisis, so what has the development of our domestic air conditioning compressor become?
-< still needs to work on but don't worry too much>-
It can be imagined how difficult it was for the development of our air conditioning industry in the days when there was no core technology in the past.
The compressor that is the "heart" of the air conditioner, every air conditioner needs its help, if not, the air conditioner is equivalent to a blower, useless.
Although Midea began to establish a joint venture with Chongqing General Industry in 2004 and began to study this aspect, foreign brands accounted for half of the mainland market at that time.
However, there is a tenacious attitude in all walks of life in China, the more nothing more to create something, after the establishment of various R&D teams, after a long period of research, finally in 2019, the first magnetic levitation centrifuge in the United States came out, and also officially announced the success of China's water machine central air conditioning autonomy.
Now we have a lot to learn from other foreign brands, and we still need to work hard, and it is not wrong to say that we still need to work hard, but we don't have to worry too much about being stuck.
You can imagine why Panasonic made such a decision last year, because in the air conditioning market, it has long been the "comfort zone" of China's air conditioning.
Judging from the sales of a few months in 22 years, foreign brands are basically in a marginal role, especially Panasonic's market situation is more embarrassing, with an offline sales share of only 0.27%.
This also means that China's air conditioning has developed to a new stage, not only in the country to grasp the right to speak, but even go abroad to make a name.
Nowadays, regarding air conditioning compressors, major brands are still working hard to deepen their efforts.
Some time ago, Haier also obtained a new patent authorization for "compressor and air conditioning system", and Gree also followed suit and obtained a patent for scroll compressor and air conditioner.
Gree's invention effectively solves the problem of sudden pressure change at the incision in the prior art.
These "babies" who were once toddlers have eventually become "adults" who are in charge of themselves.
In the future, China's air conditioners will make more dazzling achievements!
Resources:
Electrical Magazine: Panasonic plans to withdraw mid-to-high-end air conditioning production to Japan
Guangming.com: The story behind the "Century Breakthrough" of China's water machine central air conditioning
Nail Technology Network: Panasonic's offline share of air conditioners is only 0.27%, and Japanese brands are collectively marginalized