Current Senior VP Consumer Electronics of Kenwood USA, Keith Lehmann, will now lead two key mobile electronics brands. He takes the helm at JVC Mobile Entertainment as Senior VP in charge of sales, marketing, strategy and business planning.
Lehmann has also been promoted to Executive VP of Consumer Electronics for Kenwood.
At each company, Lehmann will act as a business development manager. He plans to strengthen each brand, which will retain their unique identity, he said. He also plans to create new dealer friendly programs for JVC, including “a consistent series of promotions that tie into what’s relevant to today’s connected consumer.”
Lehmann added, “JVC and Kenwood occupy uniquely different positions in the mobile electronics industry.” Products are to remain differentiated, and this remains a key market strategy for the companies.
Regarding the integration of JVC and Kenwood, which merged in 2008 to become JVC Kenwood Holdings, Lehmann said all merged areas remain backroom services that don’t impact dealers such as warehousing, service, and finance.
There are no plans to merge any area of the brands that would impact dealers directly including sales force, reps, distributors and order administration and credit management.
“Individual dealer relationships within each company are to be preserved and any management merge will only be done to the benefit of both brands in service to their respective dealers,” Lehmann said.
“We believe both brands have room to grow even in this difficult market environment. The replacement business is still significant. Consumers wishing to upgrade their in-car electronics will still seek out the latest and greatest gear, and the aftermarket mobile electronics industry remains relevant to anyone dissatisfied with what factory in-car electronics systems offer,” Lehmann added.
Some additional back-office areas may be merged between JVC and Kenwood such as supply chain management, travel services and purchasing, he noted.
Lehmann has served as Kenwood Senior VP Consumer Electronics since December 2003. In the past he was President of MB Quart and Senior VP of Phoenix Gold. Prior to that he held marketing posts at Alpine Electronics and Harman Consumer Group.
Source: CEoutlook
