Ability to Create New Markets

To the present, Daikin has created rich, new concepts for the air conditioning market. The VRV system is one example. Featuring the world's first development of individual zone control, it is a multi-split air conditioner for buildings that has been widely adopted in buildings ranging from small- to medium-sized buildings to high rises with sales expanding from Japan to the global market. In Europe, ahead of other companies, we launched heat pump type water heaters, which had been entirely new to the market and have a low environmental impact, and introduced a new market sensation. In China, we captured the needs of affluent customers who wanted to install a multi-split air conditioner for buildings in their homes, creating a new market for residential-use multi-split air conditioners. In Asia, we are expanding the market with the launch of energy-saving air conditioners equipped with an inverter in the cooling-only market. Previously, only non-inverter units had been sold. Even in the United States we plan further market creation through differentiated products developed locally at the R&D center we established there.