Pioneer ends plasma production

Sharp-built Kuro LCDs incoming

7 March 2008 9:43 GMT / By Amy-Mae Elliott

After announcing around a £70 million loss for the last year, Pioneer has now officially announced that the company has decided to stop production of its Kuro plamsa TVs in order to "resolve to restructure its display business and implement measures to enhance corporate value".

A statement reads: "We have judged that maintaining the cost competitiveness of plasma display panels at projected sales volumes will be difficult going forward. Accordingly, we have decided to terminate in-house plasma display panel production and to procure these panels externally".

Pioneer will still sell Kuro plasma televisions, using Pioneer's in-house technology, but the actual panels will be outsourced, rather than made by the company.

In addition, Pioneer will also expand into LCD and will now be supplied by Sharp with LCD TVs that will launch in Europe this autumn under the Pioneer Kuro brand.

Rather than just straight-off badged goods, the company says that Pioneer engineers will work with Sharp and "carry on the legacy of the Kuro series in terms of high picture and sound quality".

We assume this also means that Pioneer's impressive work with the "Project Kuro" concepts, including the super-thin display and "absolute black" model could come to an end - although a Pioneer UK spokesperson we talked to said this is yet to be decided.