Big e-Bike News from Panasonic & Sanyo

[Tim]

TOKYO, Japan – Panasonic Corp. is in the process of buying Sanyo Electric Co. This is reported today at the Tokyo Stock Exchange where investors scrambled to buy shares from both companies.

A merger of the two companies would create not only Japan’s biggest consumer electronics maker by revenue, but also the world’s biggest specialized component maker for e-Bikes.

Buying Sanyo would strengthen Panasonic's battery business and give it a foothold in the fast-growing solar equipment market. Sanyo's is the world's top supplier of rechargeable batteries and ranks seventh in solar cells. Earlier this year Sanyo Electric Co introduced an e-Bike with regenerative braking into the Japanese market. Next to complete bikes Sanyo Electric Co also offers e-Bikes systems on an OEM basis, including hub motors.

Panasonic Corp. through its subsidiary Panasonic Cycle Technology Co. also markets complete e-Bike systems on an OEM basis which include bracket motors. The company switched this year to lithium-ion batteries and boosted their battery capacity from up to 8 amperes per hour to 10amh. The high quality Panasonic systems are so popular that it was said at this year’s Eurobike Show that Panasonic was already sold out for the remainder of the year.

The merger with Sanyo Electric Co. will provide Panasonic Cycle Technology Co. with extra production capacity for e-Bike systems. What is also sure if this merger will be realized, is that it will provide Panasonic with a much wider product range and with the extra production will create the biggest specialized component supplier for e-Bikes.

Bike Europe - News: Big e-Bike News from Panasonic & Sanyo

Nice one.

 

[Fecn]

That sounds like excellent news to me. Maybe we'll see some larger LiMn panasonic batteries coming onto the market soon as a result of their union with Sanyo.

 

[flecc]

They were already the biggest in a sense anyway Tim, since Panasonic is wholly owned by Matsushita who also own many famous brands like Technics. National and Matsui and have an interest in JVC, the former Japanese Victor Corporation.

That whole lot are in turned owned by the holding company Matsui and the last I saw of Matsui's results was that their largest shareholder owning around 40% of them was the Dutch electrical giant Philips.

This whole group's biggest competitor in the consumer field is Sony, but since Sony and Philips have worked in collaboration on the major projects for over 25 years now, we are much closer to a monopoly than most realise.

However, I agree the Sanyo tie-up is very much in our interests and I hope it leads to a more export biased "outside" view of the world's e-bike requirements, the Japanese view on them being very limiting in many ways.
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[Cyclezee]

They were already the biggest in a sense anyway Tim, since Panasonic is wholly owned by Matsushita who also own many famous brands like Technics. National and Matsui and have an interest in JVC, the former Japanese Victor Corporation.

That whole lot are in turned owned by the holding company Matsui and the last I saw of Matsui's results was that their largest shareholder owning around 40% of them was the Dutch electrical giant Philips.

This whole group's biggest competitor in the consumer field is Sony, but since Sony and Philips have worked in collaboration on the major projects for over 25 years now, we are much closer to a monopoly than most realise.

However, I agree the Sanyo tie-up is very much in our interests and I hope it leads to a more export biased "outside" view of the world's e-bike requirements, the Japanese view on them being very limiting in many ways.
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Tony,

I think you might mean Mitsui as in Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group rather than Matsui.

Watashiwa J hn des

P.S. think I got the my gender wrong

 

[flecc]

I understand it as Matsui Holdings John, but with the variability of translation from Japanese it could be almost anything.

It's definitely big though, so as its producing e-bikes, perhaps Green Giant would be appropriate.

P.S. Just did some checking and the latest is that Matsushita has adopted the name of it's biggest division, Panasonic, and renamed itself Panasonic Corporation with effect from 1st October 2008. The name Matsushita no longer exists, all other companies now within the new Panasonic Corporation, with Sanyo the latest to be taken over.
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[Cyclezee]

Maybe I have gotten my Mits mixed up with my Mats.......ui

J hn

 

[flecc]

Just don't know for sure John, but I've just added a P.S. above about the company name. I think your Mitsui may well be correct.

Here's the real big boy though:

Royal Philips Electronics of the Netherlands is a global leader in healthcare, lighting and consumer lifestyle, delivering people-centric, innovative products, services and solutions through the brand promise of “sense and simplicity”. Headquartered in the Netherlands, Philips employs approximately 134,200 employees in more than 60 countries worldwide with sales of EUR 27 billion in 2007.

I remember seeing that only 13 countries had a GDP bigger than their turnover.
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[Cyclezee]

You would think that companies of that magnitude would have European divisions as do Nissan, Toyota, Honda etc., which designed and made products specifically for European markets.

J hn

 

[flecc]

See above addition John. With Philips a major shareholder they may have some say in that.
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