LG Electronics plans to increase its air conditioner production capacity from 12 lakhs units per year to 15 lakh units per year by the end of this calendar year.
LG at present have manufacturing units at Noida and Pune. Noida unit currently caters to the South and West parts of the nation while Pune caters to North and East. Both the units have a capacity of 6 lakh units per year each at present.
LG Electronics India, Business Head, Air Conditioners, Vijay Babu, told Telangana Today, “We are also exporting to other countries from the existing manufacturing facilities, but domestic market occupies a major portion of the supplies from these plants. The company is also making inverters here. The research and development is currently focused at Noida facility. Since Pune is near southern market, we are not currently exploring a facility in South at present.”
Telengana Today reported that LG has clocked sales of 8.5 lakh AC units in calendar year 2017, up 34 per cent from 2016 levels. The company claims a market share of 53 per cent in the inverter AC segment and 19 per cent of the total room AC market in the country.
The company in the first quarter of 2018 has seen 50 per cent growth in its sales. It currently has 32 3-star and 19 5-star models in the market in the price range of Rs 41,000 to Rs 65,000.
“We have launched air purifiers in Delhi. We have sold around 1,000 units in Delhi. We could foray into Mumbai, Kolkata, Hyderabad and Chennai in the second half of 2018. There are 2-3 major players eyeing this market at present.”
The company has 4,000 technicians and 5,000 sales professional spread across the country. The company is also expanding its service centres in the country. It has 12 service centres in Hyderabad, up from eight last year.