Toshiba Carrier plans Euro and US bases
3rd January 2016
JAPAN: Toshiba Carrier has established a European subsidiary company and plans to set up a North American operation in a major global push on VRF air conditioning.
The Cooling Post has learned that the Japanese parent company, Toshiba Carrier Corporation, registered a new company, Toshiba Carrier Europe SAS, on November 13. A similar operation, which is likely to be named Toshiba Carrier North America Inc, is expected to be set up in April in Atlanta, Georgia.
The moves are in line with announcements in October 2014 that Toshiba and UTC, Carrier’s parent, planned to strengthen and expand the Toshiba Carrier joint venture business to double its $1.6bn annual sales revenues by 2020. A major part of the expansion, they said, would be the establishment of engineering centres and overseas manufacturing in North America, Europe and India.
The Toshiba Carrier air conditioning joint venture was originally established in 1999 with Toshiba owning 60% of the volume to Carrier’s 40%.
The new Toshiba Carrier Europe SAS operation is registered at 235 Route Thil in Montluel, the European headquarters address of Carrier. With an initial investment of of €2.1m, Toshiba Carrier says the new European venture will focus on developing products for the European market with an emphasis on the sales of VRF.
President of the new operation is Hideyuki Kumazawa, former Toshiba global sales group manager and Toshiba EMEA director.
In addition, it is planned to establish an additional subsidiary, likely to be called Toshiba Carrier North America Inc, at an unnamed site in Atlanta, Georgia. The new US business is expected to have an initial investment of $2m with Toshiba Carrier Corporation owning 51% of the shares and Carrier Corporation the remaining 49%. As in Europe, the US business will focus on the promotion of Toshiba’s VRF technology.
