US-based York Air-conditioning and Refrigeration (Thai-land) expects to be among the top five manufacturers of domestic air-conditioners in the country within two years.

Marketing and business deve-lopment manager Sittisak Phanitphojama said York's share

of the residential air-conditioner market was projected to rise to 10 per cent this year and to

15 per cent in 2007.

At present it ranks eighth with an 8-per-cent share of the market, which has annual demand for 400,000 units.

Sittisak said that last year, parent company York International combined its business with Johnson Controls, a global leader in automotive interior systems, providing great potential for production bases, exporting capabilities and the creation of alternative distribution channels.

In the Thai market, the company expects its sales to grow by 30 per cent this year.

It will launch new products for the residential market, including the Atlas and the Everest.

Moreover, Thailand is now York's production base for residential air-conditioners for the entire Asian market, Sittisak said.

At present, half of the Thai company's sales of Bt5 billion are from export markets. Domestic sales break down into Bt1.2 billion from chiller air-conditioners, Bt800 million from residential air-conditioners, Bt400 million from service business, and the rest from York air purifiers.

The company's export markets include the Middle East, Europe

and Latin America. It will also

enter the Indian market this year, hopefully boosting its export sales by 30 per cent.

To lift its domestic

performance, the com-pany has allocated a

marketing budget of Bt40 million and is also cutting back its new production prices to compete with other brands.

"We have set prices of only Bt12,900 for the Atlas 8,355BTU and Bt14,900 for the Atlas 12,638BTU. These will be our 'fighter' products to drive our sales this year," he said.

Sittisak added that because most air-conditioners are based on

the same technology, York would

use its prices as a business policy

to drive sales growth over the next

two years, in full expectation of joining the top five manufacturers in the Kingdom.

Somluck Srimalee

The Nation