Damien Kantor
08/04/2021 6:26 AM
Clarín.com
Economy
Updated 08/04/2021 7:11 AM
With the idea of competing in the high-end segment,
Samsung closed an agreement with BGH to manufacture air conditioners in Tierra del Fuego
. It is the return of the Korean brand to the category, in which it will compete with
Philco (of the Newsan group), Surrey, Hyundai (a Solnik brand), Carrier and BGH itself
, among many others. The initial objective is to launch the first 3 models in October, in the middle of the high season, to be adding others next year. "
The strategy is to capture between 11 and 12% of the premium market
," explains Diego Puhl, director of white goods at Samsung.
It is estimated that
1.2 million airs will be sold this year
, one of the 3 products - along with TVs and cell phones - that are assembled locally. Samsung will seek to reposition the brand in a market that it came to lead in 2014 and that it
abandoned in 2016
, with the reopening of imports. It also means
resuming the relationship with BGH
, which manufactured digital cameras and DVD players (now discontinued products) and also conditioners.
"
We are old partners with Samsung
," explains BGH COO Daniel Rosenfeld. The executive clarifies that BGH's strategy is complementary, since "our plan is to be the main air manufacturer." Between January and June of this year
, 700,000 units were assembled
. Of that total,
37% were produced by Newsan
. Further behind are BGH (23%), Radio Victoria-TCL (13%), Aires del Sur and Solnik (9%), Carrier (5%), and Electrofueguina (3%). For this reason, Rosenfeld considers that "the alliance with Samsung is very relevant."
In the sector, they believe that production and sales stabilized, after a year crossed by the pandemic, which first affected the supply from China and later to Tierra del Fuego. And expectations are growing for the start of the high season, which runs from September to February, in the hottest months of the year. "
The hotter the summer, the more it is sold
. It is measured that when there are
3 days in a row with a 22% minimum
, the demand explodes", graphs Puhl.
The first 3 airs that Samsung plans to introduce are Digital Inverter technologies, that is, top of the range. They are 3,000, 4,500, 6,000 frigories and
their prices range from $ 90,000 to $ 150,000
. "From next year you will add another 4 more models, always within the premium segment," explains Puhl. The Korean giant
aspires to compete at the top of the pyramid of values
, a bet that, according to Puhl, is underpinned by the relaunch of Now 12 and 30 fixed odds. "When the terms to pay are extended,
the demand shifts to the premium segments
," he says.
With the airs, Samsung completes its portfolio of white goods. For years, it has
produced washing machines, refrigerators and microwaves in alliance with Visuar,
a company based in the Cañuelas industrial park. BGH, for its part, reinforces its strategy of increasing production levels in a category that affects the group's profitability. Despite not participating in the cell
phone
market, Rosenfeld explains that
"manufacturing an air with Inverter technology takes 2 and a half hours, while the cell phone requires 12 minutes
.
"
