LG aims to sell 150,000 air conditioners

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

LG Electronics Indonesia (LGEIN) targets to sell up to 150,000 air conditioners this year to households and commercial properties such as offices, hotels and shopping malls, an executive said.

"We have set a target to sell 150,000 this year, compared to last year's 130,000 units," LGEIN Commercial AC manager Achadiat Sudarmadi said during a press conference.

According Achadiat, the total air conditioner sales in the country last year was 550,000 units, while its annual growth rate was as high as 30 percent.

Despite the high growth rate, the subsidiary of Korean-based LG Electronics has no plan so far to expand its local production capacity.

Achadiat said that this year LGEIN factory was expected to reach its maximum capacity of producing 50,000 units.

"We have no plans yet to make Indonesia a production base for air conditioners. The Indonesian market, in the mean time, would still be supported by imports from our production facilities in Thailand and Korea," he said on the sidelines of an opening ceremony of a training center for after sales services.

LGEIN last Thursday opened its first LG AC Academy, a training center for customers, installers or dealers, in Gedung Wisma 77 in Slipi, West Jakarta.

"We find it equally important to not only focus on sales, but also on providing training on how to install, maintain and repair both residential and commercial air conditioners," Achadiat said, adding that the installing process would determine how the air conditioners would function.

Separately, LGEIN president director Kee Ju-lee said that the firm had built the integrated training center and showroom as a measure to explore the market here.

"LG not only sells the product, but is also concerned with the customer through opening this facility to provide integrated services," he added.