Pioneer sees flat North America revenue
LAS VEGAS (Reuters) - Japan's Pioneer Corp (6773.T) expects revenue in North America to be flat in the year to March, as falling prices counter solid sales of high-resolution TVs and automobile electronics, an executive said on Monday.
The world's No. 5 plasma TV maker plans to phase out low-resolution TVs in North America next year, Tom Haga, head of Pioneer's North American operations, told Reuters in an interview at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.
"Our smaller, low-resolution TVs are struggling against liquid crystal display TVs," he said. "We want to make our entire lineup full high-definition, where we have a backlog of orders."
The North American market accounts for one-third of Pioneer's plasma TV business.
Hit by brutal price declines, Pioneer in 2007 launched its "Kuro" series, positioning its TVs as premium products for high-end users cultivated through its audio business.
Pioneer is under pressure to turn around its struggling plasma TV operations as losses persist in its home-electronics division and the company faces increasing competition in its car-electronics unit.
Pioneer was the world's fifth-largest plasma TV maker in the July-September period, behind Panasonic maker Matsushita Electric Industrial Co Ltd (6752.T) and Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS), according to DisplaySearch.
The company in October revised down its annual outlook, saying it expected losses in its home-electronics segment of 14.5 billion yen in the year to March, instead of an earlier-forecast 8 billion-yen loss.
Pioneer is the world's largest maker of car electronics, ahead of rivals including Victor Co of Japan Ltd 6792.T and Kenwood Corp 6765.T.
(Editing by Braden Reddall)
