The company will now have three distinct brands in the United States — Daikin, Goodman, and Amana. Their strategy is to have three full-line brands that will include both minimum SEER and higher SEER products. Daikin is being positioned as the premium brand. The company is offering a differentiated package to dealers in regards to warranty and service.

“The people who become dealers for Daikin are hand selected by us because we expect a higher level of performance on the part of the dealer,” Swift said. “In return, we will give them the opportunity to have a territory that is more selective so they are not competing directly with other Daikin Comfort Pro contractors.”

Training for those contractors began in early November at the first Daikin Dealer meeting and
will continue.

The company sees this arrangement as a big improvement for the distributors.

“This is really exciting for distributors,” Swift said. “Daikin has created separation of the distributors in the marketplace. Distributors are always worried about overlap so this helps with that. We think it is a game changer for the industry.”

The VRV products will be produced in Houston with the current plant adding about 250 jobs.

“It is a rare occasion when an Asian company acquires an American company and takes its technology from Asia and brings it to the U.S. and creates jobs in the United States. We are grateful for that opportunity,” Swift said.

The strategy for Daikin is to go after the market segment that has traditionally been hard for Goodman to capture — the branded market. They plan on doing something Goodman has never done before and that is advertise the brand to the consumer. The company has committed to advertise more than any of their competitors in the U.S. market.

“That is a key part to what we will be doing to create confidence for the Daikin dealers and also create awareness with consumers,” Swift said.

“We are very proud of achieving many of our goals during the past year, but this is only the beginning,” said Takeshi Ebisu, senior executive officer of Daikin. “As the Daikin brand becomes more familiar in North America, we believe that customers will respect and request the energy-efficient operation, durability, and excellent reputation that the brand offers.”

Both Ebisu and Swift see a big increase coming for the ductless market in the United States. They estimated 13-15 percent growth in the small mini split ductless market and believe the commercial VRV segment will see a 30-50 percent growth rate.

Goodman and Amana

In the past, the Goodman and Amana lines have not been complete. That will change under the new strategy.

“Goodman is a big brand and a big business for us. Goodman will continue to be broadly distributed, but we are adding some more SKUs to the Goodman line that will enable us to service the needs of our dealers,” Swift said. “The Amana line continues to be very important to us and it will be a full line as we have added to it. If you are an Amana dealer you now have the opportunity to use Amana with every need you might need with that customer.”

Daikin and Goodman believe the timing is perfect.

 “We think it is a very good time to introduce a new brand because the industry is recovering. There is growth, so it is a good time to be launching a new brand. If this was three or four years ago it would be tough to justify launching a brand,” Swift said.