CORONA, CALIF. — Chris Larson, formerly Toshiba America Information Systems sales VP, has joined TCL as its new North American sales and marketing VP.
Larson started with the company last month after spending more than a decade with Toshiba America.
He said the strategy for the development of the TCL’s U.S. business going forward will be to “leverage TCL’s manufacturing expertise and R&D facilities to develop products the consumer wants to buy with a distribution strategy designed to allow retailers to invest in supporting the brand.”
Larson added, “We have the advantage of very little legacy distribution, so we can partner with the best retail distribution with an eye on the future.”
He noted the driving factors for the TV industry in 2014 and beyond will continue to be “picture quality and screen size at a great value.”
And Larson commented, “I’m excited about TCL’s ability to deliver on these needs. Smart TVs and the ability to stream content continue to grow in importance to consumers, and our partnership with Roku will allow us to address that with a best-in-class solution, TCL Roku TV, this year.”
Larson said that where TCL stands out in the market is its “full vertical integration and worldwide size — almost 20 million TVs shipped last year, [which] are huge advantages in terms of cost, quality, design and supply. TCL’s impressive global R&D network, including a research center in Silicon Valley, allows TCL to innovate and bring exciting new technologies to the market.”
