Sanyo 🇯🇵

Sanyo was founded in 1947 by Toshio Iue, brother‑in‑law of Konosuke Matsushita, in a warehouse that Matsushita did not use, to manufacture bicycle dynamos. The name means “three oceans,” the ambition to sell in the Atlantic, the Pacific and the Indian. In air‑conditioning it was a brand of engineers: according to its commercial chronologies, it produced its first window unit in 1958, launched the first heat‑pump appliances in 1960, in 1970 the world’s first split with a rotary compressor, in 1971 it began manufacturing absorption chillers and in 1983 presented its first gas heat pump (GHP), a technology in which it was a world leader. In 1989 it signed the first VRF with simultaneous cooling and heating and in 1993 the high‑capacity W‑Multi.

In Spain Sanyo is a household name: in 1966 the Navarrese company AINSA began manufacturing under license Sanyo “made in Spain” products in Tudela and in 1969 the Japanese firm bought 37 % of the company. From there came the radiocassettes that were a hit in the seventies; the factory closed in 2006. Air conditioning, on the other hand, was sold here through Sanyo Airconditioners Europe, the Italian subsidiary that served the continent from 2000 with splits, VRF and GHP.

After years of difficulties, Panasonic launched a public offer in 2009, withdrew Sanyo from the stock market in March 2011 and in December of that year took down the sign at the Moriguchi headquarters. Sanyo splits were replaced by equivalent Panasonic units and the GHP and absorption continue today under the parent company’s brand.

Pending verification

The dates of the air‑conditioning milestones (1958, 1960, 1970, 1971, 1983, 1989) come from British Sanyo distributor chronologies, not from primary Japanese sources. The details about Tudela come from a fan wiki.

History machine-translated from Spanish. Can you improve it? Write to us.