Matsushita Electric Corporation of America became Panasonic Corporation of North America on January 1, 2005. That was the North American subsidiary’s corporate-name change—not the Japanese parent company’s, which adopted the Panasonic name on October 1, 2008.
What changed in North America in 2005?
The company formerly known as Matsushita Electric Corporation of America (MECA) took the name Panasonic Corporation of North America (PCNA), effective January 1, 2005. A U.S. Patent and Trademark Office filing later recorded the change on January 26, 2005. Electronic Design reported the effective date; the USPTO filing supplies the recorded date.
The North American company was not newly established in 2005. Panasonic’s corporate history dates its establishment as Matsushita Electric Corporation of America to September 1959 and identifies its present name as Panasonic Corporation of North America. Panasonic’s corporate history
How is the 2005 change different from the parent company’s 2008 change?
They were separate corporate-name changes involving different entities and dates:
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| Event | Entity | New name | Effective date |
|---|---|---|---|
| North American subsidiary renaming | Matsushita Electric Corporation of America | Panasonic Corporation of North America | January 1, 2005 |
| Japanese parent renaming | Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. | Panasonic Corporation | October 1, 2008 |
Panasonic’s official history says the company unified its corporate brand worldwide as Panasonic in 2003, before either of these legal-name changes. In 2008, the Japanese parent, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., changed its corporate name to Panasonic Corporation. Panasonic’s corporate history
Why did the North American company adopt the Panasonic name?
The reason given at the time combined customer familiarity with an internal organizational transformation. In a February 2, 2005 report, Electronic Design quoted Yoshi Yamada, then chairman of Matsushita Electric Corporation of America:
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“Panasonic is the name that customers and channel partners have known us by for years,” said company chairman Yoshi Yamada. “We want to take advantage of the tremendous brand equity and good will that research tells us is built into the Panasonic name, so it makes great sense to call our company Panasonic. In addition, we are also in the midst of a huge transformation of our company’s systems and organization. By putting the Panasonic name on the revitalized company, we want to underline the dynamic change going on within the organization.”
The remarks describe Yamada’s explanation; they are not an independent measurement of brand value. Electronic Design’s February 2, 2005 report
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Was the change limited to the North American headquarters?
No. The 2005 report said the planned rollout covered nearly 50 Matsushita entities in the United States and Mexico, including the New Jersey headquarters, factories, and research and development units. The company expected the process to run from January through December 2005. This was the report’s estimate and schedule, not a confirmed final count or proof that every entity completed a renaming by year-end. Electronic Design
A related example was Matsushita Avionics Systems Corporation, which Panasonic Avionics’ history says became Panasonic Avionics Corporation in 2005 to match its parent company’s name change. Panasonic Avionics’ history
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