Taiwan Kolin, Syntax jointly tapping China's LCD TV market

Taipei, June 20, 2005 (CENS)--Taiwan Kolin Co. and Syntax have decided to jointly tap the LCD television market in mainland China following their successful cooperation in promoting LCD TV sets, dubbed ‘Olevia', in the North American market.

Taiwan Kolin is one of Taiwan's leading manufacturers of electric home appliances while Syntax is a dynamic marketing channel firm in the United States. In terms of cooperation in the mainland market, both firms planned to promote LCD TV sets under such two brands as "Olevia" and "Kolin." Initially they will contract local manufacturers to turn out the TV sets, and will then consider to establish an assembly plant in the mainland.

Last year, "Olevia" was ranked No. 4 in the U.S. LCD TV market in terms of sales volume, according to a survey done by Display Search, a famous marketing research firm in the U.S. The brand, in the first quarter of this year, advanced one notch to the third position, according to a ranking official at Taiwan Kolin.

In the second half of this year, Taiwan Kolin's production lines are fully booked as Syntax has received orders for LCD TV sets from K-Mart, the largest hypermarket chain in the U.S. Taiwan Kolin will move to deliver TV sets to K-Mart at the end of this month, with a monthly shipment of around 5,000-6,000 units. This year the company is expected to export more than 300,000 LCD TV sets, much more than the projected goal of 250,000 units for the year.

Actually Taiwan Kolin unveiled Kolin-branded LCD TV sets in the mainland early this year, and has so far sold about 1,000 units in that market. Recently, Syntax set up its foothold in Beijing to handle sales of Olivea-branded TV sets in the mainland. Since both firms are ambitious to make inroads into the mainland market, they decided to jointly tap the market niche there.

The two companies will make a debut for "Olevia" and "Kolin" in a consumer electronic products show to be held in Qingdao of Shangdong Province early next month. Seeing the booming market in the mainland, they believed their cooperation would be beneficial to each other in the market there.