Vestel has confirmed it has appointed a local representative support its OEM customers in the local market.

“For the last 20 years we have been remotely servicing our partners in the Australian region, and now we have appointed our own representative that will also be servicing the New Zealand market,” Vestel area sales manager, Sinan Kahraman, told Appliance Retailer.

“We want to listen to the industry more and more and add value to our service by influencing and penetrating each part of the value chain and delivering strategic strength and vision in this marketplace.

“We have recently announced a $180 million investment in production capacity to support our rapid expansion in emerging regions including Oceania. This increased production capacity will support Australia and New Zealand as two important emerging high-growth markets.

“We have committed this spend to keep up with demand across all major domestic appliance (MDA) product categories including cooking, refrigeration, dishcare and laundry products and our annual production capacity has increased to 13.5 million units.”

The move to expand into regions, such as Oceania, follows the company’s success in many other regional markets. Already a market leader in Europe, Middle East and Africa, Vestel designs and manufactures for more than 1,000 brands, including world-known premium Japanese, Korean and European brand names.

Since it started manufacturing for Asia Pacific 15 years ago, Vestel has quickly established a loyal customer base of brands and in particular, private labels, emerging as one of the region’s fastest growing major appliance manufacturers.

This rise in customer demand means the additional investment is critical, according to Kahraman.

“A reflection of our steadfast commitment to customers in Australia and New Zealand, our pledge to increase production will enable us to provide even greater capacity, and flexibility. As well as making it easier for us to ensure competitive lead times, it will allow us to accommodate additional seasonal orders, big and small,” he said.