Kenwood Corporation - History of Kenwood Corporation

History of Kenwood Corporation

William "Bill" Kasuga was a first generation Japanese American who gave up a privileged life in Japan, with his father sending him there in hope of studying medicine to return to his birthplace in the United States in hopes of starting a business. During World War II, Kasuga was interned but volunteered in the United States Army as a translator during World War II being well-versed in Japanese and English. After the war, Kasuga taught Japanese but quickly grew tired of it. A friend referred him to an opening at a firm called A&A Trading Co., who imported Japanese-made electronics for RadioShack and was looking for a bilingual Japanese-speaking manager. During this time, Kasuga made connections with one of RadioShack's suppliers, Trio Corporation, a Japanese manufacturer of quality audio equipment. Trio's management was looking for a way to sell their products directly to American consumers, and the entrepreneurial Kasuga was convinced that he could do a better job of selling Trio's products than their existing partners in the United States. Looking for capital investment, a mutual friend put Kasuga in touch with George Aratani, already wealthy from founding Mikasa & Company, who agreed to provide funding for Kasuga's import venture. Along with Yoichi Nakase, they decided to establish a company that would be the exclusive importer of Trio Corporation audio products.

During that period, Japanese manufactured goods had a reputation for low quality, but Kasuga had faith in Trio's products and decided to create an American-sounding name for them. He described the origin of Kenwood as being the combination of "Ken", a name common to Japan and America that had been tested and proven acceptable to American consumers in the name of Kenmore Appliances, and "Wood", referring to the durable substance as well as suggesting a relation to Hollywood.

The brand recognition of Kenwood would surpass that of Trio's, and in 1981, Trio decided on using the Kenwood name worldwide and renamed itself Kenwood Corporation in 1986 after fully acquiring Kenwood, who was still an independent importing company. George Aratani would be the first chairman of Kenwood U. S. A. Corporation and succeeded by Kasuga.

Kenwood introduced Japan's first FM tuner and solid state amplifier. The company introduced an amplifier with integrated audio and video signal switching in 1981. This product is seen as a precursor to today's home cinema systems.

In 1984, Kenwood designed and manufactured the first anti-theft car stereo receiver.

Kenwood introduced its Sovereign line of components in 2001. This high-end line competes with prestige brands of other manufacturers such as Pioneer Elite, Sony ES, Onkyo Integra, and Matsushita Technics. In the car audio market, the "eXcelon" line similarly competes Pioneer Premier and Sony Mobile ES brands.

Kenwood announced its intention to merge with JVC after Matsushita spun off the company. The new company formed JVC Kenwood Holdings on October 1, 2008.