LG eyes $13b product push for North America

LG Electronics has set an ambitious sales goal for this year, announcing at the Consumer Electronics Show that it plans to sell $13 billion worth of products in North America, a CommwebNews.com report said.

'We plan to achieve this by introducing high-end products that rely on advanced features and design, rather than low prices, to attract customers,' Michael Ahn, president and CEO of LG Electronics North America, was quoted by the CommwebNews.com report as saying.

LG's North American sales for 2007 were $11.5 billion, for the first time beating the $10 billion mark, according to LG.

This year, LG will step up efforts in its home entertainment and home appliance businesses, the report said.

The company, for example, will roll out new plasma and LCD TVs with improved designs. It hopes to become one of the top three manufacturers of flat panel TVs in North America by increasing capacity at its production plant in Mexico, the report added.

The report further said on the mobile phone front, LG wants to become the second largest phone maker in North America. But it will first have to knock Samsung out of its current No. 2 spot. LG captured 15.6% of the North American mobile phone market in the third quarter of last year, while Samsung had 20% of the market, according to research firm Gartner. Motorola was the No. 1 mobile phone maker with a 31.3% market share.

LG said it saw three newly-launched phone models do well last year.